Date with Destiny
by VampireQueen21
Summary: XOver with BTVS Angel. After EOTW Liz finds out that she’s pregnant, she leaves Roswell to go live with her cousin Fred in LA. There she meets some of the hottest guys she’s ever seen but they also have a secret. LizSpike.
1. Prologue

Title: Date With Destiny

Author: Dez/Jezebel Jinx

Rating:Mature (violence, language, sexual innuendo's and some sexual situations)

Couple: Spike/Liz, Kyle/Liz (implied), Liz/other, B/A, slight B/Aus, Fred/Wesley, and others.

Category: Roswell/Angel/Buffy X-over

Summary: After EOTW Liz finds out that she's pregnant, she leaves Roswell to go live with her cousin Fred in LA. There she meets some of the hottest guys she's ever seen but they have a secret.

Note: Takes place, Season 2 of Roswell, Season 7 of Buffy, and Season 4 of Angel.

Note 2: I am changing some of the things that happen in Buffy and Angel.

Buffy and Angel are together as a couple.

Buffy and Spike never slept together they have more of a brother/sister relationship.

Angel did still sleep with Darla in Season 2 but Darla never showed up pregnant since Buffy staked her not long after. So no Connor (I can sometimes stand him but most of the time it's a big no.)

Cordy isn't evil but she's not nice either. And she will have the hots for Angel

Lastly (finally) I wasn't sure how old Fred was when she was sucked into Pylea. So I made her 19 and a sophomore in college when it happened so now she's 25.

Note 3: At first Kyle is going to be kind of an asshole. But that's probably going to change later on in the fic since I can't be mad at Kyle for to awful long.

Note 4: After the prologue the timeline is going to jump ahead but there is going to be a lot of flashbacks during the fic.

Note 5: And lastly (again finally) Alex does not die, Liz has to have at least one friend in Roswell.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to somebody else that isn't me.

**Prologue**

_December; 2000_

She finally did it.

After weeks of being ostracized by the people she thought were her friends. Liz had found the courage that had been long buried deep inside her, packed her bags, and left the only home she'd ever known.

She just left.

It was the only way for her to start fresh. Starting over in the same town, a small town at that, was near impossible. You would see the same people, talk the same talk, and be stuck in the same rut you've been in all your life. That's why she's on this bus heading to California, Los Angeles to be precise. At first she figured she would go back to Florida where her Aunt lives but it was an obvious destination and she didn't want anyone to find her. Her parents know of course but that was it.

Her "friends" _would_ find her if she went to Florida, they may not want to socialize with her or even be in the same city as her but there would be an alien emergency of some kind and they'd suddenly need her back in the fold to help. It was the last thing she wanted to have happen at this point.

The night her life went to hell, that cool October fall night, she really had sex with Kyle; there wasn't any other choice for her, none that she could see. If she had only pretended to sleep with him it wouldn't look real, their hair wouldn't have been mused, their bodies would have been unmarred and not a drop of sweat trickling down their spent figures, the bed would have been almost perfect like all they did was lie there. It wasn't exactly a hardship, not by any means, Liz was still attracted to Kyle, just as he was still attracted to her.

Afterwards when Max had gone from her window after seeing Kyle nuzzling her neck, with her leg peeking out from the quilt and wrapped around his waist, it was awkward. No easy way to put it, it was strange and weird between her and Kyle, something their relationship hadn't been for a long while.

Kyle felt extremely guilty; he couldn't handle it and lashed out at her. Calling her names and yelling at her to not come near him ever again. He gathered his clothes and away he went back to his house. Then she was alone with Future Max who had heard everything she and Kyle did. He wouldn't even look at her when he told her that he still loved her.

Over the next two weeks rumor spread of her and Kyle's night together. With the news came the looks of lecherous males wanting to take a ride on the "Liz X-press". The aliens sided with Max, no big surprise there, Maria only stopped her in the halls to call her slut or whore, Kyle completely ignored her, again not surprised considering how he acted afterwards. Alex was the only one out of the once close knit group of friends that still talked to her on a regular basis.

It was during those two weeks when she began to get her affairs in order to leave. Another 4 weeks would pass before she could actually leave, but leaving was necessary. She told Alex she was going the day before she left he even offered to go with her so she wouldn't have to be alone. As much as she wanted him to come with her she couldn't let him do that. The day she left Alex and her parents were there to see her off, after receiving hugs and whispered support and love she got into her car and left Roswell without looking back.

So with her Aunt in Florida crossed off the list of places to go, Liz next choice was going to her Aunt and Uncle's in Texas. They weren't as cool as the Aunt in Florida, but they did have a daughter that was a few years older than her, named Fred. Liz had gone to visit them one school break when she was ten and Fred had invited her to the amusement park with some of her school friends all day, she bought her ice cream, cotton candy, cheeseburgers, and candy. Which later she ended up regretting since it ended up all over Fred's parent's car. Not one of her shining moments.

Liz adored Fred; they had so much in common. Fred would talk to her about science and Liz understood everything she said. Some of her theories could be a little bit out there, but that made her all the more lovable. When Liz had to go back to Roswell she wasn't a happy camper, she didn't want to go, she wanted to stay with Fred.

But Fred promised that she would call Liz every other weekend so they could catch up. And she kept her promise. They had talked about everything under the sun, even made plans to see each other next year.

However, that trip was the last time she saw her cousin. No more than a year later Fred had disappeared, vanished off the face of the Earth. She was gone for five years, no leads came up, and no body had been found. Just nothing.

So last year when Fred's parents called and said that their daughter had finally been found, she could hardly contain her joy. After the confusion that had become her life she never thought anything would be completely clear to her again, but now there was, Fred being found gave her some of clarity back to her.

After she got the news she called her older cousin at the number her Aunt and Uncle gave to her. The cheery voice that answered didn't register in her brain; all she wanted was to talk with Fred. Finally she came onto the phone and while she sounded far shyer then Liz remembered she was still the same lovable Fred.

Liz was nervous while talking to her, she wasn't sure what happened to her while she was missing, and didn't know how to bring it up or whether she should or not. She decided against asking until she could see Fred face to face.

They had talked for hours, something they both really missed. At the end of their conversation Fred made the offer to her to come down sometime and hang out. It didn't take her long to take Fred up on that offer, only a month. Now she's on her way to LA, with her unborn child.

Yea, she was pregnant with Kyle Valenti's baby. How 'bout that.

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

A.N. This has some disturbing images. But this was sort of how I was when a friend of mine died in a car crash. I looked at it and spoke about it as if I didn't care one way or another because I couldn't deal with it on an emotional level at that time.

A.N. 2: This fic will jump from past to present often so please look carefully at the dates so not to get confused.

**Chapter 1**

_5 years later; February 17, 2005_

She never thought she'd be back here.

After what happened it wasn't like she had much choice.

Liz got the news last week, at first she thought she had heard wrong, she had talked to them for hours just last week. It had to be a joke, but Alex continuously had to tell her that it was true. Even when it sunk in it didn't seem real.

Nancy and Jeffrey Parker were dead.

A car crash, Alex said. A man coming home in his jeep from pulling an almost twenty hour workday, had decided that he was ok to drive home the ten miles. After all at that time of night it would only take him fifteen minutes. He fell asleep at the wheel a mile from his home, rammed into her parents car head on.

They had been coming home from a party that had been held at a local family's house. Mom hadn't been wearing her seatbelt and she flew through the windshield, her skull hitting the jeeps grill, she died instantly. Dad hit his head against the steering wheel, when the airbag went off it came out with such force it snapped his neck and he died.

Now the man that caused this whole thing by not pulling over and taking a nap or calling someone to pick him up was released from the hospital three days ago. He had cuts and abrasions, a small concussion. He was able to go to home to his family. His wife, son, and daughter. All in all, Phillip Evans would be fine; he was still living and breathing.

Of course Alex didn't tell her all the gory details, she had to go digging for those on her own. It took a couple days but she found what she was looking for. She sniffs, tears threaten to spill over her dark lashes and trail down her cheek, but she's done enough crying for now. Until he gets here she doesn't want to cry, she has to be strong, at least for a little while longer. When her mates here with her then she can let go again.

As she drives through the town, with her son playing with his GI Joe and tank in the back seat, she can't help but wonder about the people she left behind all those years ago. Alex had kept her updated on everything, just incase she was needed she would know the back-story.

Maria, shockingly, was still residing in Roswell, married to a Darren Jacobson, Maria had met him at the Crashdown while working he told her he'd get her a record deal; so far he hasn't come through. Michael is single but dating Isabel occasionally, maybe he figured he might as well give 'destiny' a shot. Max was married to a Veronica Lowell but it didn't last probably because he made a habit of plowing into Tess every chance he got.

Kyle, the father of her beautiful baby boy, was currently engaged to Tess, and she's expecting his child. She says she stopped sleeping with Max, but you can never know. Lastly Alex, he fell in love with a tourist named Serena Mitchell, the girl that Future Max told me would be a friend of mine one day, he was right. They have twins and are expecting another child in March.

"Mama, I'm hungry." Lucas had tried unsuccessfully to reach his travel bag, where he knew she had put his snacks and juice.

"You're hungry?" She teases him. "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Give me food…peas." He claps his hands together, giving her the most adorable smile and continues to try to reach his bag.

"Ok, hold on sweetie." Liz pulls over on the side of the road, reaches into the bag and pulls out some Cheerio's in a zip-lock bag. "Try not to make a mess honey." She buckles her seat belt and pulls back out onto the road. The sound of Lucas munching away on his snack helps give her something to focus on, her parents only met Luke once. She should have come home more often.

The Parker's funeral was today…well, tonight. Fred took care of all the arrangements long distance, while Liz hardly did anything, not that they would let her even if she could. All she did was cry and hold onto her mate and son. Her friends have been so supportive while she's been in her catatonic state, helping take care of Luke, giving her as much time as she needed away from work, and even helping her mate cook her meals…he's not a very good cook.

When she called Alex yesterday and told him all the information he said that the 'I Know an Alien Club' had been meeting at the Crash everyday since Nancy and Jeff's death. They would probably be there when she arrived, he asked if she wanted them at the funeral. Liz told him they could come to the funeral, the funeral would be held after dusk, but afterwards they would not be allowed back in the Crash, not during closed hours anyway.

"Done mama." He tosses the baggie on the car floor and picks up his toys again continuing to act out his story from where he left off.

Liz chuckles and shakes her head good-naturedly. The night she found out about her parents Fred, Buffy, Angel, and Gunn had just come back from slicing and dicing a demon. Normally Fred wouldn't have gone but she was needed to say a spell to make sure the demon stayed dead. Her mate, Spike, was disappointed he couldn't go, but after an injury to his side the previous night he would have done more harm than good.

Liz remembers when she first arrived in LA and the Hyperion Hotel, Fred had been outside waiting to greet her, and she hadn't been alone. And Liz had no clue what was going on for months after she arrived. When she did she was shocked to say the least.

It was when everyone was celebrating that the phone call came. Cordy had picked up the phone and in a cheery voice said the motto of Angel Investigations, her smile had left her face and she held the phone out, looked directly at Liz and said it was Alex.

More curious than worried she took the phone from Cordy and listened. She told him that, that wasn't funny. It wasn't meant to be funny. After that she couldn't remember anything and it was the next night. Spike was there with her holding her, told her about what happened from the point she couldn't remember.

She told Alex thank you and goodbye unemotionally, had hung up on him. Then turned to everyone and said she had to check up on Lucas, Spike had called Alex back demanding to know what he had told Liz. He found out.

Spike had run upstairs to Lucas's room and found her there singing to him, a lullaby that her mother had sung to her when she was a child. After he was sleeping she got up without acknowledging Spike and went to their room where she lay there for hours staring at the wall till she finally fell asleep.

It took her another few days to be able to cry but when she did she couldn't stop and Spike had been there, solid and supportive. She can hardly wait till he's here with her; he had to finish things in LA before following her.

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

A.N. Gunn was my favorite character on Angel. I absolutely love him so there will be a little Liz/Gunn couple-ness in this fic. Great, now I feel the need to write a Liz/Gunn fic, damn my muse I have enough fics I'm working on as it is. However the main couple in this fic will be Liz/Spike.

**Chapter 2**

_December; 2000_

As Liz drives down the street Fred told her the hotel was on, she had called five minutes ago asking for directions. Unconsciously Liz begins to rub her stomach, Ever since she found out she was pregnant she had developed the nervous habit of caressing her belly when scared or hesitant. Looming ahead of her she notices what she thinks could be the hotel, slowing down the car she glances at the address, yep, this is it.

Pulling into the side alley she parks her rental car behind a big black car with it's top up. She has no idea what kind of car it is all she knows is that it's big, black, and shiny. Someone obviously loves his or her car, there doesn't seem to be a speck of dirt on it.

While she had been outside preparing herself to meet Fred again and her friends, people who had taken her in after she returned from wherever she had been, Fred, Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley heard her car drive up in the side alley. The perky brunette smiled wide and began pacing the lobby.

"I'm going outside to meet her." Fred suddenly says and makes her way toward the doors that lead to the street.

Wesley calls to her ceasing her forward movements. "Why don't we all go greet her?" His English manners shining through. He heard from Fred as to why Elizabeth had left her hometown, after breaking up with her boyfriend all her friends and his friends turned against her. The male students had called her names and degraded her so much that she was in tears by the time she got home. All except one, a boy named Alex Whitman. "It can't be easy for her move to a new town."

A few seconds later the Angel Investigation's Team was standing outside waiting for Elizabeth Parker to come walking up. They didn't have to wait for long, seconds after they exited the massive hotel Elizabeth saunters up staring at the hotel in awe. Not yet taking notice of the smiling and slightly nervous group standing awkwardly in front of the double doors.

"Lizzie!" Fred couldn't hold in her squeal of excitement as she ran toward her younger cousin. She gathers the tired and worn looking girl in her arms and whispers assurances in her ear. "We'll take care of you. I promise." Without asking she places her hand on Liz's stomach and rubs the barely there lump.

Instantly Liz knows that she's going to be ok here with her cousin and it calms her frazzled nerves somewhat, enough where she can grin at the anxious group of people standing behind Fred. "I'm just happy to be out of Roswell."

"Umm," Angel steps forward his hand extended. "Hi, I'm Angel. This is my hotel and as long as you're here in LA it's your hotel too. Fred's told us a lot about you and I can hardly wait to get to know you."

Liz shakes his hand and is shocked at how cold it is. "Hi, Elizabeth Parker, feel free to call me Liz." It's obvious the tall hunky brunette isn't used to meeting a whole lot of new people, and comes across as trying to hard.

"Hey, I'm Gunn. Fred told us you were pretty but I don't think she gave you enough credit. I'd say you're more gorgeous than pretty." He raises her hand and kisses it affectionately. "If you need anything and I do mean anything I am at your beck and call."

Giggling for the first time in a while she smiles wide at the handsome black man that caused her to blush. "Why thank you. I just might take you up that." She gnaws at her lip coyly.

Rolling her eyes at the overt flirting of Gunn and their new houseguest she steps up next to Angel and extends her hand. "And I'm Cordelia Chase, actress and occasionally I work here at Angel Investigations. It's nice to meet you." Her tight smile says anything but 'nice to meet you' more like 'one more person to steal my spotlight'.

"Nice to meet you too. What have you acted in?" Knowing that she hasn't seen her in anything, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. She's not a big TV watcher.

"Well…I was in a play once a couple years ago…" Cordelia thinks about anything else she's been in but can't come up with anything.

To save Cordy from any embarrassment Wesley steps up from behind his friends. "Hello, I'm Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Absolutely wonderful to meet you my dear, if there is anything that I can do to make your stay more comfortable don't hesitate to ask." He places a soothing hand on her shoulder and squeezes encouragingly.

"Thank you." Wesley was Fred's boyfriend. She would go on and on about how wonderful Wesley was and is, she can see him being a perfect big brother.

Fred picks up one of Liz's bags that she placed on the ground when she greeted the AI team. "Come on Lizzie. Let's get you settled in and then we can cook dinner. You always used to love helping me when you were younger."

Nodding she hoists her backpack up higher on her shoulder. "I'd like that."

"Is this all you brought?" Fred questions.

"No, I have one more suitcase in the car and then later my parents are going to send the rest of my stuff."

"Do you still have that umm, oh what was it…"

"My memory box?"

"Yea." Fred nods.

"Of course I do. It holds all of my most precious moments. Unfortunately I had to leave it back in Roswell; I could only bring so much on the bus. But mom and dad are going to send it with some of my other stuff."

The AI team watch as the two girls take the bags and begin to talk about old times together, Angel waits till Liz and Fred are upstairs before turning to the others. "She pregnant."

"Fred never mentioned that." The seer pauses and turns her full attention to Angel "How can you tell?" Cordy scrunches her nose up.

"For one Fred rubbed Liz's stomach, normally that's not done if the woman's not pregnant. Second I can smell the baby. She's not that far along either, maybe a month or so." The vampire tells his team.

"That smelling people is really gross Angel."

Wesley stands behind the counter. "I wonder why Fred never said anything about it to me." He just thought the torment was getting a little rough on Liz and she needed a change of scenery.

"Maybe Liz didn't want anyone but Fred to know yet." Gunn tells them. "I know I wouldn't want a bunch of strangers knowing all my secrets when I first met them."

Angel shrugs his shoulders, he'll ask Fred later, and it's not a question that needed to be asked or answered at this point in time.

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_February 17, 2005_

The scenery goes by quickly; homes give way to businesses, it's not long before she finds herself in front of the Crashdown Café and turning into the back parking lot, mentally preparing herself for meeting that is about to happen. She shouldn't be nervous, those people, the people who are sitting in her restaurant mean nothing to her.

They are the ones that should be nervous…if they knew she was coming. She has nothing to be ashamed of; she did what she had to do to save the world. Sleeping with Kyle was the only sure way she knew of that would get Max to fall out of love with her and it worked like a charm.

"Why are we just sitting here mommy?" Lucas innocently questions her.

"Well, baby, Mommy is a little nervous, we're about to meet up with some people that I have seen in a long time." Liz explains.

"Are they nice?"

"I used to think so, but they hurt mommy a great deal and they stopped being nice." She gathers her sweater from the passenger seat and exits the car. Crossing behind her vehicle she opens the rear passenger door, unbuckles her son's car seat and lifts him out of the chair. "Oh your so heavy baby. You're growing like a tree. Let's hope you didn't inherit your natural father's height deficiency." Liz chuckles and grabs Lucas's travel bag swinging it onto her shoulder.

Liz shuts the door and locks the car with the locking/unlocking remote on her key chain. Spike bought the car for her; she had been looking into new cars for a couple of months previous, Spike saw her circling different kinds of PT Cruisers. For her birthday he took her to the car dealership (at night of course) asked her which PT, she wanted and the next day called the dealer and paid for the car.

"Will he be here?" Lucas wants to know.

"Yes honey, he will be." She's always been truthful to him about his natural father. Liz knew that someday she would come back to Roswell if only for a visit and the last thing she wanted was to have Lucas hurt if his paternity came to light about Kyle being his biological father. Besides it wasn't as if she could hide it, Lucas looks so much like him. From his short dark blonde hair to his to his piercing blue eyes, she really hopes however that he gets the height from her side of the family, most of the men in her family were over six feet.

"Will daddy still be my daddy?" Scared that Spike, now that his real dad is in the picture, wasn't going to his father anymore.

"Of course he will sweetie. Just because your meeting Kyle today doesn't mean he's going to be a part of your life, not if you don't want him too. And even if you do want to get to know your natural father, Spike will still be your daddy." Liz explains. She understands her son's fears; he doesn't want Spike to be hurt if he decides he wants a relationship with Kyle.

"Does he know about me?"

"No honey. After Kyle and I were…together that night we weren't on good terms anymore. See he really cared about this other girl and when we got together and made you he was upset that it would ruin his chances with the girl. So he took his anger out on me and I never told him that we made a beautiful child that night." Liz sets Lucas down on the hood of the car.

"Is he a bad man?" Frightened that his natural father was like the boogey men that haunted the city he lived in.

Liz licks her lips and thinks of a way to explain it to him. "He's not a bad man Luke, he was just angry. Kyle is a nice man but sometimes when people get angry they say things they don't mean. From what Alex tells me he's sorry for the way he acted that night and wishes he could take it back. I promise you Kyle is not a boogey man."

"Were you mad at him too?"

"Yea, I was, I still am a little, but you know something I'm also very grateful to him. Do you know why?"

Lucas shakes his head negatively. "It's because he gave me you," she caresses his cheek, "and he also helped me meet your daddy."

"How'd he help?" Lucas shrugs his shoulders in confusion.

"If he and my old friends hadn't have acted the way they did I never would have met your daddy. I probably would have stayed in Roswell and never known of him." She probably would have met the others because she would have gone to visit Fred at some point, but not Spike.

The only reason they met was because she had needed protection from a demon. Since Angel and Buffy were off on their month long honeymoon, Cordy was staying at a friends while her ghost infested apartment was being fumigated for bugs. With Gunn it would have been awkward to have him guard her since they had broken up a month previous and Wesley and Fred while capable of taking care of themselves weren't that strong in the physical category.

Which brought in Spike, Wesley phoned him, told him that situation and that his assist was needed. From the moment she set eyes on Spike she knew that he was going to be hers, she had fallen and hard. According to Spike he had the same reaction to her, even if he did try to down play it at their first meeting.

"Is Uncle Alex and Aunt Serena going to be here?" Lucas voice breaks Liz out of her memory.

Liz nods her head in confirmation. "And it's 'are' sweetie." She corrects his grammar out of habit.

"What's 'are'?" He swings his little legs back and forth in boredom

Liz chuckles, "Never mind." She kisses his forehead and picks him up again. "Ready to go see them?"

"Yea." He wraps his small chubby limbs around his mother's waist and neck, he misses Alex and Serena, they were cool. Uncle Alex would fly him around the room in his arms so he could pretend he was Superman. Sometimes he would even pretend to be the evil Lex Luthor. Aunt Serena would let him help her cook whenever she made a big dinner. He loved pounding the bread dough.

Slowly Liz makes her way toward the front of the Crashdown. She can see through the window, there the 'I Know an Alien Club' is sitting in their regular booth with somber expressions, with the group in the booth were their significant others. While Alex and Serena are sitting at the counter, Mariah and Jasmine age 2, are Alex and Serena's twin girls were being baby sat over at the Whitman's.

Lucas doesn't like the girls all that much, he says they're no fun and all they play with is Barbie Doll's. Liz told him that GI Joe were also dolls, but Lucas set her straight immediately. Barbie's were dolls and GI Joe's were action figures, and there's a huge a difference.

Taking a deep breath Liz calms some of her nerves and pulls open the Crashdown doors ready to meet with people she hasn't seen or cared about in five years.

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

A.N. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I hope it's ok. Good news, so far it's the longest chapter in this fic.

A.N. 2 Also to answer one of the questions that I noticed a couple times, Spike won't enter the past parts till the dates hit June. However he will enter the present/future (depends on how you look at it) parts more than likely in Chapter 11 but might (if it works out) have him arrive in Chapter 9. Now with the past parts after Liz finds out that the AI team is also hiding something the timeline will speed up for the past.

**Chapter 4**

_January 8, 2001_

It's been almost a month since she arrived in LA; it's been hard keeping the fact that she's changing into an alien hybrid from her new friends. When Liz was settled in at the hotel she had begun to think about the people she left in Roswell. At one point she was so angry the glass of the milk Fred brought in had exploded, milk cascaded over the table and glass shards fell around the table and bed.

To say she was scared was a huge understatement. Apparently Angel heard the small blast, although how since her room is on the third floor, was a mystery. Liz lied to them saying she was clumsy and dropped the glass when she picked it up. Angel didn't quite believe her, again she had no idea why, after becoming a member of the alien abyss she learnt how to lie and more importantly lie well.

After the group of concerned people left her room Liz took out of some of the science equipment of hers she packed in her suitcase. Liz pulled out a needle from her bag; another thing she learned to carry around, you never knew when you had to check someone's blood to see if they're of this Earth. Carefully she sticks the needle in her arm and slowly draws out a tiny amount of blood.

Liz places a drop of blood onto a glass slab then places another on top, walking over to the microscope she sets the glass and blood under the lens. Her blood looked almost human, almost. The cells, the majority of them were still red, but a few were showing signs of green. It was just as she suspected she's turning into a hybrid.

What was that going to mean for her child? Kyle might also be changing he just doesn't know it yet. However he was healed about nine months after so it probably wouldn't happen for a while. It was fairly obvious that them being changed were Max's doing, he healed the bullet wound in her stomach, saved her from death, same as Kyle.

Everyday, after figuring out her cells were changing, she checked her blood and everyday her blood got a little greener. She wanted to call one of the aliens, question them about what to do, but she made a promise to herself before she arrived that she wouldn't seek them out for anything. At this point she wasn't even sure she'd help them if they asked her for help.

Last night she met the infamous Buffy Summers, the love of Angel's life. She heard Cordelia and Fred talking about her a few days after she arrived. Apparently Buffy had called Angel needing to vent about new people moving into her home, which caused Cordelia to vent about Buffy.

She thinks Cordy has the hots for Angel, but then again who wouldn't, he's tall, dark, and handsome but there was something about him that made it awkward for her to be attracted to him. For the past month he and Wesley have been like brothers to her, just last week Angel comforted her after a violent dream, it wasn't like any nightmare she's had before. This had blood, creatures that were definitely not human, and what seemed to be vampires.

Angel questioned her about what the nightmare entailed, after telling him he got an odd look on his face. The rest of the time he was in her room he was out of it, like he knew something she didn't. Which in this place was very likely.

Just last week, after a rather long nap, she trekked down the stairs only to be greeted by the sight of a green guy, a green guy with horns. The entire group was nervous, Fred explained that the green guy was Lorne, and he was the latest subject of a friend of his whom was trying his hand at extreme make-up. Liz had no clue how that would make the group act nervous, it was a perfectly logical explanation. The fact that they were nervous rose her suspicions that weird things went on here.

But anyway back to meeting Buffy, she's really beautiful, even if she was scratched and bruised up. Another thing that caused Liz to think everything wasn't quite normal. What could be happening in this young woman's life to give her those marks? The oddest part was that no one seemed all that concerned, they asked what happened and Buffy said she had a disagreement with a gang called the Turok-Han, which made no sense.

Now she was walking downstairs, nobody was in the lobby, at this time of night that was an odd occurrence. Normally this place is busy at night and quiet during the day. Angel and Gunn were running off someplace, Cordy and Fred stayed behind and Wesley changed from going with Angel and Gunn and staying at the hotel.

Liz hears muffled voices, curious as to who's there she quietly sneaks over to Wesley's office. Buffy, Angel, and Wesley were talking in hurried whispered tones.

"I'm telling…think…Potential…dreams…same…Buffy…having…was called." Liz can only understand ever couple words from Angel.

"…possible…an eye on Liz…powers or abilities." Wesley comments on Angel's garbled mess, luckily she was able to hear a little more, but still not everything.

Do they know she's different? No, they can't she's been careful, nothing has exploded since that first day with the milk. She's even hidden a lot of her science things.

Buffy who made no effort to keep her voice to a whisper, but wasn't yelling either, leaned forward in her seat. "Listen, I'll check with Giles, he knows some powerful witches that told him about the others, maybe they can tell us about Liz?"

Not needing to hear anymore Liz rushes back upstairs, enters her room, and locks the door. They know about her. Maybe she should leave again, go to live with her Aunt in Florida. Wait, she has to stay calm, she can't flip out.

If they knew about her why wouldn't they be up her with torches or sending her to the FBI to be dissected? Maybe they don't know, but if the don't what the hell were they talking about?

"I'm telling you both that I think she's a Potential. Those dreams she described having were the same ones Buffy told me she received around the time she was called." Angel stands behind Wesley's desk while the ex-Watcher was looking up some information.

"It's definitely possible, we'll keep an eye on Liz, see if she's displaying powers or abilities." He sets the book back on the shelf, noticing Angel behind his desk he raises an eyebrow causing Angel to move to the other side of the desk and take a seat next to Buffy.

"Listen, I'll check with Giles, he knows some powerful witches that told him about the others, maybe they can tell us about Liz?" It felt good to be close with Angel again. Last night he held her all night his strong embrace a great comfort to her.

Holding Buffy's hand Angel continues. "If it's the case this was something I didn't want to happen to her. She's a good kid, not to mention she's pregnant, raising a baby in this environment isn't good."

"Angel I understand how you feel, Liz brings out a protective quality in all of us, but from what I know about her from spending time with her and listening to Fred she's stronger than she looks." Wesley sits down crossing his hands on the desk.

Buffy raises her hand and strokes Angel's cheek bringing his gaze to her. "Besides it's not as if Liz is going to be alone during this whole changing process. She's going to have you, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and even Cordelia somewhat. It's going to be scary finding out she might become a Slayer but just watching her briefly yesterday I think she'll be able to handle it."

"But how can I tell you she might be a Potential. She hasn't even told any of us besides Fred that she's pregnant, she's going to start showing soon and I won't buy that she's gained weight, I mean you see how she works out." Angel rubs his free hand over his face in frustration.

Since Liz arrived in LA she's has been going down to the basement and working out for almost two hours everyday. Nothing overly strenuous but enough to keep her in shape. One time he sneaked down to the basement and watched her.

First she did thirty minutes of Palates; the only reason he knows about Palates was because Buffy began them last month. Then Liz took a brief break stretching out her muscles, followed by five minutes of jumping rope, then thirty minutes of working with a punching bag, another five minutes of jump roping, and then after stretching again she sat on the mat and meditated.

Liz didn't even move a muscle the entire time she was meditating. He almost thought she hadn't seen or heard him, after all he's stealthy, he's a vampire, you can't be all loud when you're stalking someone. When out of the blue Liz said 'hello' to him and scared the shit out of him.

However for the past two weeks Liz has cut out the punching bag out of her routine, he thinks Fred told her to take it easy. "How the hell am I supposed to tell her that she's going to be hunting vampires and demons on a nightly basis only to die a young woman?"

"Do you want me to talk to her? It might be easier coming from someone who's gone through this before?"

"That would probably be best, you'd be able to answer questions that Angel and I wouldn't be able too." Wesley tells her.

Angel scratches his head, "I think you _should_ be the one who breaks it to her, but I don't think we should right now. She's pregnant and it might put the baby in distress." He stands back up only to squat down in front of the mini-fridge that's in the office. The coolness doesn't faze the soulful vampire as he reaches for the Coke and pack of blood.

Pouring the packet contents into a coffee cup that Buffy had personalized for him, it's black with red paint that look like blood, dripping down to form the words 'Angel's Elixir'. Heating the blood he hands Buffy her Coke, he's always been able to feel her wants and needs even something as minor as what she wants to drink.

"Oh I don't need a drink Angel. Thank you." Wesley sarcastically comments.

"You didn't ask me Wes. Besides you're drinking tea, didn't think you'd want a soda." The microwave beeps and he pulls the steaming liquid out taking his seat next to Buffy again.

"So we hold off on the Question and Answer period for a while right?" Buffy asks the two men. They nod confirming. "Ok, in that case I'm going to patrol, I'm going to try to get a staking in before dawn. Thanks for the Coke." She kisses his lips gently wanting to taste more of him but won't in front of Wesley. "I'll be back in the morning."

TBC


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_February 17, 2005_

The bell above the door singles the entry of a customer. Maria stands from the booth not noticing or caring who was at the door. "'Scuse me did you not see the sign on the…" It finally registers who is now standing inside. "What are you doing back here?" Maria hisses.

Dressed in tight black leather pants, a deep 'V' neck purple velvet top, black biker thick low-heeled boots, and her hair pulled into a loose pony-tail was Elizabeth Parker standing there with a young child on her hip looking a lot different than when she left. Her physical appearance didn't change much however she exuded this aura of confidence.

"Why do you think Maria? My parents were just killed where else would I be?" Liz growls back at her once best friend.

Alex rises of his stool and gently pushes Maria aside and brings into his embrace with Lucas squeezed between them. "How are you holding up?" He whispers into her. Lucas doesn't really feel much regarding the death of his grandparents, he never met them.

"Pain comes in waves, when I'm by myself it's harder but if Spike or this little guy are near me it makes it bearable." Liz grants him a half smile and kisses Alex on the cheek. "I got the flowers you sent to the hotel, they were beautiful, don't know how long their going to last though considering none of us are great gardeners, we're not even mediocre gardeners, we just suck." Liz chuckles lightly.

"Don't worry about it, if it will make you feel better every time they wither I'll send more." While he was talking Serena waddled her way towards the trio. Without saying a word she hugs Liz tight whispering words of love and support. She too lost her parents and knows she's going to need all the support she can get.

"Have you decided yet about what you're going to do?" Alex takes Lucas's travel bag, setting it in the booth next to them as Serena questions their friend.

Liz shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know, I mean this was my parents second child, they would want me to take it over and make it my own. On the other hand I have a life in LA a good one, I just don't know yet." She sighs out.

"We'll help you any way we can." Alex places a kiss on her temple; the three adults finally notice the deafening silence of the restaurant.

Max has an expression of pure fury, although for what reason she has no idea. Isn't her that should be furious with him, since his father killed her parents and here he is sitting in her parent's Café? She can honestly say that if he makes the mistake of speaking down to her or lecturing her about her choices she's going to beat his ass down and enjoy every second of it.

Isabel and Michael seem… torn, which doesn't make much sense to Liz considering they were two of the aliens she had the least harmony with. Maria was just glaring at her and Lucas, that automatically put her in the 'might kick your ass' category. She doesn't care if Maria glares at her but Lucas didn't do anything to warrant that look.

Next were Kyle and Tess who both had welcoming yet nervous expressions. They were smiling at her and that made her a little weary. In her experience when someone who you weren't on good terms with grins at you it's best to be on the alert. Great she's beginning to sound like Giles, he's Buffy's Watcher, technically her ex-Watcher, but it depended on whom you asked.

Lucas senses the tension between the group of people and his mother and just wants to hide somewhere. Staring at the group shyly he knows immediately which on is his father. Nervous he buries his face in his mother's neck and breathes in the scent of strawberry, lingering cigarette smoke, and baby wipes. It smells like home, his family, Mom doesn't smoke but Dad does and the baby wipes were part of his own smell because he was messy and Mom uses the wipes to clean his hands.

Kyle stares at the little boy huddling in Liz's arms, he looks exactly like he did when he was child, the resemblance was uncanny. When the child calls Liz 'mommy' he knows he's his son, he looks the right age for when he and Liz were together. But when the boy questions Liz when his daddy would get there he began to wonder.

"Daddy will be here tonight honey. He won't miss singing you your lullaby." Liz assures him.

"It's not a lullaby, it's a song, lullaby's are for baby's." Lucas yawns into his mother's shoulder, tired from the long car ride from LA.

"Come on honey, I'll take you upstairs and you can take a nap ok?" She whispers lifting the travel bag back onto her shoulder.

"I'm not sleepy." Again he yawns his little eyelids fighting to stay up.

"I know you're not sweetie, but how about we go up to mommy's old room and you can just lay there for a little while, not take a nap just relax?"

"K." Lucas murmurs.

Liz begins to walk into the backroom but Maria stands in front of the swinging door. "No, you are not going upstairs, not till we sort this out. You can put your bastard s…" Immediately her sentence is cut off by Liz raising her up by her neck, the child, now asleep in her arms wasn't disturbed in the least.

"You," Liz seethes through clenched teeth, "never speak about my son like that again. If I so much as hear a whisper of you or anybody else saying something negative or derogatory about my son or to my son I'll rip out your vocal cords by way of your fat fucking ass. Understood, _Ria?_" Her threat never raised above a whisper but it was no less frightening, if anything whispering made it worse.

Alex ran up to the irate Liz. "Lizzie, let her go, she can't breathe." For a moment he thinks Liz won't let Maria go, but slowly the pissed off mother eases the terrified blonde onto the ground and lowers her hand from her now bruised throat.

Without stopping to explain she brushes past a cowering Maria and climbs the stairs. Standing at the door of her parent's apartment, now hers, she prepares herself for the emotional tirade that is going to happen when she enters the old family dwelling.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Calming her nerves, well hiding them was more like it. She hid the emotions behind a mental wall the size of Mount Everest; she unlocks the door and steps inside.

TBC


	7. Chapter 6

A.N. Thank you so much for all the feedback, it makes feel good reading it. My mom is doing great, she was up and going to work on Monday. School is actually a great thing because I seem to write more and get more story ideas while I'm there.

A.N. 2: Liz/Gunn romance ahead, kind of. There will be a little bit of them getting together but this chapter will have the most with them as a couple. After that I'll just skim over a lot of their relationship (it will only be a month long romance.) Don't worry this is a Liz/Spike coupling fic. Spike will make an appearance in part 9 and as it looks right now in part 10 in the past parts.

Also in the _Angel _Time-line a lot of things have been messed with. No Jasmine, no Connor, and no Beast (as of yet he will be making an appearance later in Chapter 8.)

And lastly I got the names information from 'What Shall We Name the Baby?' Edited by Winthrop Ames.

**Chapter 6 **

_January 19, 2001_

It's been over a week since Liz stumbled onto the conversation that transpired in Wesley's office. For the first couple days she was extremely nervous around Angel and Wesley, Buffy had gone home a day after she heard bits and pieces of the conversation. But when nothing happened by the fourth day and Angel and Wesley treated her like normal she relaxed.

However something was definitely going on with the hotel residences. A phone call came in three days ago from a woman who said 'I want my zombie of a husband to be killed, for good this time. He refuses to leave me be, and he's upsetting the dogs'. Oh yea, there's another thing, this phone call didn't transpire on a answering machine, no Cordelia had picked up the phone and that was when she heard it.

Besides the handy green cells and fun explosive powers she also received the nifty alien hearing which is over five times better than a normal human. Liz was still getting used to the hearing of a pin drop from the floor above her, it was scary there were some things that she didn't want to hear or need to hear.

"Hey Liz." A deep husky voice jars Liz out of her thoughts. She turns toward the stairs, sitting there on the middle step is Gunn. He wore a bashful grin that warmed her heart; Gunn has been a constant support system while she's been at the hotel. Not being able to think about the hotel as 'home' yet, there's something missing almost, what she doesn't know.

Gunn has taken her out to lunch, when she's been left to own devices, everyone else off doing something of importance. "Hey Gunn, what are you doing here? I thought you went with Angel on a case?" She stretches her arms up and back tightening then relaxing her tired muscles.

He smirks and shrugs his shoulders, "We finished early, came back here, I was going to take you out to lunch, nothin' fancy just a small diner down the street." He raises his eyebrows in invitation.

"Ok, I'd like that, let me just take a shower so I'm not sweaty and smelly." She giggles taking a swig of water from the sports bottle she brought down with her. Gunn stands and nods.

Liz begins her ascent up the stairs, he moves aside to let her by but she stops right in front of him, "Thanks Gunn, I really appreciate everything you've been doing for me, I don't have a whole lot of friends anymore and it's nice having friends again." She whispers.

"I'd like to be more than a just a friend Liz." He tells her, slowly he leans in and kisses her softly and her lips are smooth and supple against his. Gunn's palm cups her cheek deepening the kiss for a moment, reluctantly Liz breaks the kiss smiling shyly.

"That was nice. I think I want to be more than friends too. But please, I need to go slow for a while." Liz pleads hoping he'll understand, even though he doesn't know about her pregnancy. She can't just jump in feet first with a relationship, she has her unborn child to think about.

He grins his cute boyish smile he nods. "Hey that's cool, I mean you just moved here, you have a child to think of…" Gunn trails off at her quick raising of her eyes and is pained at the slight narrowing of her deep chocolate eyes, conveying her anger and shock. "Oops, I wasn't supposed to say anything." Wondering if he blew his chance with Liz before they even began.

"What? How do you know that I'm pregnant? Did Fred tell you?" Liz demands to know. She wasn't ready for people to know about her baby. She wanted to know a little more about her pregnancy before she let anybody but Fred in on the information.

"Umm, no Fred didn't tell anyone, I swear, it's just you're starting to show and I figured since you work out everyday it couldn't be that you were gaining weight so I went with the other logical option." Phew, did that sound believable enough? It's not like he could say his vampire boss could smell the baby, Liz would freak out if that were to happen.

He's lying, she knows she hasn't begun to show yet, she measures her stomach every night and every morning, Liz supposes she takes after her mother in that respect, she didn't start to show till she was almost into her fifth month. After that her mother grew like a balloon, gaining 60lbs while pregnant. Awkwardly she casts scared glances around the room anywhere but at Gunn. "Listen Gunn, I can't go to lunch with you today, I'm sorry."

Without giving him an explanation she rushes upstairs leaving a heartbroken Gunn behind standing on the stairs uncertain of what just occurred. For almost a week she avoided Gunn not knowing what to say or what to do. Liz knew she overreacted to him knowing she's pregnant but she didn't want to share her baby. As selfish or as weird as that seems it was true, she didn't want to share and she definitely didn't want anyone to know unless she told them.

Finally she gathered up her courage and confronted Gunn, explaining why she reacted the way she did, luckily for her he understood what she was saying and forgave her. After telling Gunn she decided it was time to tell the others, from their less then shocked reaction it was obvious they knew or suspected something about the pregnancy. But how was a mystery to her.

Fred wouldn't have told them and Liz wasn't showing as of yet. It is extremely odd to her and left her wondering about her new friends. Later that same night as she was lying in bed her baby connected with her. She was going to have a baby boy.

Liz was so moved by the emotion and connection she felt when she touched his silver handprint she cried with joy. He's beautiful, Liz can only imagine how handsome he'd be once he's out of the womb. Her little boy, she needed to start thinking of names for the little guy. And she wasn't going to give him any weird names like Poindexter or a name that could be mistaken for a girls like Angel, hey she cares about the big guy but let's face it, Angel is a girls name.

Grabbing a piece of paper she begins to write down all the names she likes and thinks would be good names for her son. For almost an hour she writes till she has a list of almost 30 names, glancing at the list of names she crosses off some that don't feel right she's left with 5 names. William, Brant, Jeffrey, Lucas, and Quinn. Not being able to decide between the five she decides to look up the meanings to all of them.

After reading through each of the means that she liked what 'Lucas' meant the most. The meaning rang true to her life; Lucas's meaning was 'Light' and she looked at her son as the light of her life. It was perfect for him, now she knew what to call her child when she talked to him. Liz could hardly wait for him to get here.

TBC


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_February 17, 2005_

With Lucas fast asleep in Liz's old room she quickly hurries out of the apartment. It hurts so much to be in that house without the sounds of her parent's laughter or her mother listening the Elvis Costello while folding the laundry. This place was dead, just like her parents.

Now that her son's sleeping she can speak with the group waiting in the dining area of the Crashdown, when Lucas was in her arms she wouldn't raise her voice and scare him. He lives in a scary world; the last thing she wants is for him to be scared in his own home.

Liz pushes the swinging door open and steps back into dull roar of secretive whispers and rising panic of what 'she has become'. Ignoring them for a moment she walks behind the counter and pours herself a glass of milk, taking her baggy of pills out of her pocket popping an Excedrin for her growing migraine, if she could avoid this confrontation for a few days she would.

For a brief moment she stares out the window of the Café, he's on his way here, she can feel him sending waves of comfort and love to her. Spike marked her almost four years ago and they've been able to feel each other ever since, it was a nice feeling.

"Everyone except Alex and Serena I want you to say your peace and get the fuck out of my restaurant." Not bothering to mince words.

"You can't talk to us like that, you have no idea what we have been going through here, so you have absolutely no say in what we do or don't do." Max stands anger radiating off his entire body.

Liz can almost swear he wants to get beat down by the way he's talking to her. "Max I'm going to say this as calm as I can. _You_ don't get any say on how I speak; you shouldn't even be in this restaurant. Your father killed my parents, in my opinion the second that happened you and Isabel were banned from this establishment. And my opinion is the only one that matters in this case." Her voice even, not rising in anger or lowering to deliver a threat.

"He didn't mean to Liz, he accidentally fell asleep it could happen to anyone." Max continues to badger Liz.

Serena and Alex wince at Max provoking Liz, although he might not realize he is, he's still pissing her off and he's going to pay for that. Alex doesn't think she'll hurt Max…yet, but she definitely give him a verbal smack down.

"Oh…" Liz places her glass on the counter her expression faking understanding and stalks closer to the once love of her life, "I'm sorry you're right. It could have happened to anyone, but the point is, it happened to your father and he killed my parents."

Liz's face transforms to one of utter rage. "He ripped them out of this world and away from me and my son. You're father is alive and well Max, my parent's are laying on a cold metal slab waiting to be put in the ground. So I don't give a _shit_ whether he meant to or not, the end result doesn't change."

Liz can feel various nerve endings inside of her beginning to crackle and spark. The powers that she has controlled for years wanted to be let out, badly. It was like her powers had a mind of their own and they wanted to make Max pay for his father's sins.

Alex quickly rushes to Liz's side, if the fury on her face is any indication to what's to come he needs to be there to calm her down. "Lizzie relax and breathe you don't want to let the surprise out of the bag too early do you?" He plays to her desire to keep her changed status hidden.

"Well, then the big eared bozo shouldn't provoke my anger." Her teeth clenched and a fake smile is plastered back on her face hissing the words out.

Isabel stands up from her seat in the booth, everyone staring at her wondering what she'll do. "Liz…" she takes a shaky breath "I am so sorry with what my family, my father has put you through. But Max and I had nothing to do with that."

Liz licks her lips thinking over her response carefully. "I know you two aren't responsible for your father's actions. Really I know that, but seeing you and Max here now makes me angry." She holds back the tears welling up in her throat.

Subconsciously she rubs her neck, where Spike's mark is permanently visible on her lightly tanned skin. She can feel him getting closer and closer to her, he's closer than she thought he was Spike was only an hour away from her.

"I know you probably don't want to see Max or I right now or even ask for our help but do you need anything done that I can do for you to prepare for your…parent's funeral? Anything to ease the pressure off you?" Isabel kindly offers.

She feels awful for how she treated her after the whole situation with Kyle; it wasn't until she had dreamed walked Liz that she learned the whole story, something she shared with Michael. Both aliens were awed by her sacrifice, however neither told anybody else what they knew.

"I appreciate that Isabel, but my husband and our family took care of the arrangements over the past week. The funeral is tonight." Max's gaze rises at Liz's mention of a husband but wisely doesn't say anything.

"How long have you been married?" The tall blonde alien asks trying to move to a subject that's not heart wrenching.

For the first time since Liz arrived she smiled a real smile. "Over three years now." She remembers when he proposed, Spike had planned this perfect evening for the both of them up in her room, she didn't want to leave Lucas that night for some reason, lucky she didn't because demons ended up storming the hotel much to Spike's anger.

After the fight was over and demon guts was sprayed all over the both of them Spike began swearing at the dead demons not realizing completely what he was saying. For a while all that came out of his mouth was 'bloody fucking demons' and 'piss ants ruined everything'. It wasn't until five minutes into Spike's tirade he said 'I was gonna propose to my mate tonight. What happens you bleeding poofters screw it up.'

Hearing her vampire lover say that to the long dead demons stopped her from cleaning the goo off her body and dress. She questioned him on whether or not he meant it. At first he didn't realize he spoke out loud, but when he saw he did he didn't even pretend he didn't say it.

He held her saying how his long dead heart would beat anytime she was near him and he could swear he turned a little more human every time she told him she loved him. Liz melted at his sweet words and kissed him passionately, Spike took out a princess cut 1 ½ caret diamond and officially asked Liz to become his wife. After that how could she refuse? Within four months they were married.

Coughing nervously Liz shakes the pleasant memory and stares at the occupants of the Café. "Listen there are still some things I need to prepare before the service. So I'm going to ask all of you to leave, you can all come to the funeral if you want."

"Liz," Kyle slowly walks up to her, "you and I really need to talk."

"I know we do, but not now. After the funeral we can talk okay?"

Kyle nods understanding and satisfied for now, he stands back over near Tess rubbing her shoulders affectionately. Slowly everyone even Alex and Serena file out of the Crashdown to get ready themselves for the funeral.

TBC


	9. Chapter 8

A.N. Angel's soul is in tact, but can be taken by spells. There will be some Angelus in this fic don't know about the rest of you but he's so much yummier than Angel. :drool:

**Chapter 8**

_February-March; 2001_

Liz and Gunn's relationship didn't last all that long, but then again after Kyle he's been the longest boyfriend she's had. Kyle and she went out for a little over three months, with Max it was more of one step forward, ten steps back, and when they finally did get together it was over before it began. Of course she had other boyfriends but they never stayed around for more than a month. Either she'd break it off or they'd just get tired of her not putting out as James Fina rudely told her when he broke up with her.

At first the relationship between her and Gunn was hot, scorching almost, they never slept together but it was heading in that direction. It was during that month long courtship that she found out some interesting things about her new friends. Liz had been talking to Wesley out in the lobby when this big hunk of rock came bashing though the door yelling for Angelus.

Almost immediately Angel came running out of his room his shirt gaping open, fingernail marks fully visible scratched down his sculpted abs. Buffy ran out behind him, pants unbuttoned carrying a sword, looking mighty mean. Angel rushed to his weapons case and grabbed an axe swinging it expertly.

Angel asked the creature, there was no way that was make-up, what the Hell he wanted, and who he was? The large rock thing told Angel they could begin to take over the world, he asked once before but was now giving him the chance to reconsider. Angel's expression was one of confusion; he had no clue what this hunk of concrete was talking about.

Since Liz was still sitting on the large round couch near the door to shocked and scared to move the rock pile made a grab for her. Before she could think of what to do she raised her hand, the glow was quick but it packed a powerful punch. The power surging from her body and through her hand was like a wave flinging the creature back crashing into the stairs.

For a moment no one knew what to do except stare at Liz who didn't seem as shocked. Without warning Buffy and Angel were a flurry of motions kicking, punching, and slicing at Rock Boy. Eventually after much fighting the Beast left stomping through the walkway crushing the concrete beneath his feet.

During the fight Liz ran up the other set of stairs to her room trying her best, but not succeeding, to calm her breathing down. Energy crackled along her arms and hands the sizzling power causing pain under her skin, not being able to control the power lamps and light bulbs explode around her room, "Stop! Stop!" She yelled. The noise becoming to much for her ears to handle, she falls to her knees and lies down on the floor in the fetal position holding her ears.

Liz never saw Gunn charge into her room, the rest of the AI team following behind him. She never felt him grab a hold of her electricity charged arm, nor did she feel the current exit her body, or see Gunn flying through the air and luckily landing softly on her bed. After that she blacked out.

"So how do you think she'll take it?" Angel caresses Buffy's bare back as she lies on top of him. Liz had passed out after zapping Gunn with that green current that was flowing through her arms. He was going to be all right but he was thinking about his relationship with Liz a lot more closely. Evaluating whether or not he wanted to continue with the romantic aspect.

"Well," her hot breath fluttering over his cool skin, "it seems that she's not exactly Miss Normal-Girl either, first with the light shooting out of her hand and putting a hefty dent in lava boy the electrocuting Gunn…I have a feeling she's going to accept it. Granted it will be a shock but she'll take it a lot better than I did." Buffy's reminded of Merrick and how he brought her to the graveyard that night making her fight her first vampire and how she freaked afterward.

Angel chuckles, "You didn't take it so bad…you accepted your destiny and have become one of, if not the Greatest Slayer to walk the Earth." He fiddles with the top of the thin silk sheet that is just over Buffy's ample behind.

"I wouldn't say…Ok, I am the Greatest Slayer, everyone else should bow down before my wonderful-ness and pay respects to their Goddess of Vamp Slayage." She teases her lover.

"Well at least you got your priorities straight, having people worship you definitely has to be at the top of every list as a God." Angel presses a peck to her lips, Buffy not wanting to settle for that opens her mouth deepening the kiss, to which Angel has no objection. As they ignite each other's passions an irritated Cordelia barges into their bedroom.

"Hello! Employee in the room!" The May Queen's jealousy pours out, they'd have to be idiots not to see her anger…or otherwise occupied. Cordelia sighs loudly at the still kissing couple, Buffy has her arms wrapped around Angel's neck her face over his mauling her lips against his. Angel has one hand under the covers obviously massaging something that she doesn't need to see while the other hand is cupped on her other cheek…the one on her face not the one below the covers.

Cordelia stomps her foot on the carpeted floor. "Stop making out you two, it's disgusting."

"Go away Cordelia." Angel commands under Buffy's lips before attacking them again. His secretary has been working at getting between him and Buffy it has practically become an everyday occurrence with her.

"Thought you might be interested to know Liz is awake and Fred's with her now. You don't have to bite my head off." She leaves in a huff slamming the door behind her, the walls shaking at the force of it.

"We really should go check on Liz." Buffy reluctantly tells him; still leaning close to him she nuzzles his nose with hers.

Sighing Angel nods. "You're right." He runs his fingers through his hair trying to make it somewhat presentable. Reluctant to leave the safety of their room he holds onto his mate for a moment longer. After a few minutes they finally rise off the bed, dress, then make their way toward Liz's room. It was time to get some answers…and to give some.

TBC


	10. Chapter 9

A.N. The couples are Liz/Spike, Wesley/Fred, Buffy/Angel, Cordy/Gunn, Alex/Serena, Kyle/Tess, Maria/Darren, and slight Michael/Isabel (they are just dating not really seeing each exclusively).

**Chapter 9**

_February 17, 2005_

Liz watched the sun set from the Crashdown windows, its been fifty minutes since everyone left and the only movement she made was to check on Lucas and come back down to the restaurant to sit in one of the booths, just remembering her parents. The cash register would ring taking the money of a satisfied and loyal customer, her mother scurrying about in the back trying to make due with one more jar of ketchup till the end of the week.

Then her father would exit his office, hold her mother close and within moments she would be calm again. Dad had that special talent of keeping the family on track and never letting things get to him. Liz chuckles shallowly, well that wasn't exactly true he'd get fairly uptight when it came to her and Max dating, couldn't really blame him, Max wasn't for her, it just took her moving to realize that.

A drop of moisture falls on her arm, glancing down she raises her hand to her arm and runs it over the drop, she lifts her hand up to her face, and her face was dripping with tears. Now that's she's started she can't seem to stop, doing the only thing she could do; Liz curled up in the booth and let the tears out.

Never once did she notice the sun fall completely so darkness had its turn, nor did she hear the chime of the Crashdown doors opening repeatedly, all she felt were arms and hands. Strong capable sinewy arms holding her close, comforting friendly hands stroking her hair and a deep seductive voice whispering soothing words to her. But it wasn't so much the words that eased her tears it was his voice; he could make everything all right in her world with just his voice.

He rumbles more words to her before picking her up with ease. Gently he carries her upstairs into what he hopes is the upper apartment she told him about. Always cautious when carrying his precious cargo he sniffs out any possible intruders before proceeding into the silent home. Quietly he makes his way into her room; her scent is everyone even after five years of being away.

He enters the room and sees Lucas laying under the covers snuggled against his mother's pillows. Smiling the vampire carefully lies Liz down on the bed next to Luke, shrugging off his coat he tosses it over a desk chair, kicks off his shoes and rests on the bed next to his wife easing her body closer to his. There he waits for her to calm and come back to him.

"Poor Liz, I hope Spike can bring her out of her trance before we have to leave for the funeral. She can't miss their funeral, it would just break her even more." Fred sits on the barstool next to Wesley across from the booth Spike and the AI team found Liz curled up on moments ago. She glances at her watch; her Uncle and Aunt's funeral will be starting in two hours.

Although she loved her Aunt and Uncle and missed them she doesn't feel a loss in her life at them being gone, she never really knew them; her strongest emotion through all this was concern for Liz. "She won't miss their funeral Fred, Spike wouldn't let that happen, he loves her too much." Angel assures her.

"Will Buffy be able to make it to the funeral?" Wesley questions Angel, he knows she wanted to be there for Liz but she was in England dealing with a Potential issue that Giles needed her help on. Dawn was in Rome with Xander and Willow picking up another batch of Potentials that was going to be brought back to England.

Angel shrugs his shoulders. "Doubtful, she said she'd try but the earliest she'll probably be able to get in is tomorrow night sometime." He wished Giles hadn't called her to England, Buffy's pregnant with his children, twins, one boy and one girl, and he couldn't stand being apart from his mate and children.

"Do you think they'll be there?" Cordelia asks, after a year of Liz living at the hotel she began to warm up to the brunette and the two had in the years that followed become very close friends. The last thing Cordy wanted was for those people, Max, Maria, Isabel, Michael, Tess, and Kyle to cause any problems for her on her day of mourning.

"I don't know. For Liz sake I hope not, if they're at the funeral, there's no telling what could happen." Fred lets Cordelia know. "They hurt her enough while she was here, she doesn't need to be hurt anymore. Plus, I have a feeling that if they are there it won't be pleasant."

Stirring awake in Spike's arms Liz slowly opens her eyes. Staring down at her with his piercing blue eyes was Spike rubbing her upper arm with his thumb. "Hello luv, sleep well?" He nuzzles her forehead with his nose taking great pleasure in her quiet giggle.

"Of course, I always sleep better with you holding me." Sweeping her eyes up she stares up at him her gaze falling on his mouth. She almost moans as he bites his lower lip, not able to resist she pulls him into a deep kiss reveling at his lips against hers.

From her left side she can feel Lucas moving around, breaking the kiss she turns slightly so she can see him, he notices his parent's are awake and crawls onto his knees. "Daddy." He leaps over Liz and into his father's arms hugging him close. "I missed you Daddy. How come you couldn't ride with us?" Luke understood that he couldn't go out in sunlight, but Mom's car has tinted windows so he wouldn't go poof.

"Well, I had things to take care of before I came here." Spike holds both of his loves in his arms, his wife and his son, it didn't matter to him that Lucas wasn't his blood, he was Liz's blood which meant Luke was his too.

Lucas squirms in Spike's embrace, "Gotta pee." Chuckling his daddy lets him down as he runs to the bathroom.

Caressing Liz's cheek, Spike asks in his deep rumbling voice, "What is it?" She has a look of extreme worry and terror. The only time she's had that expression was when Lucas was two years old and a demon that had a certain taste for children came charging toward him. Liz, even with a huge gash in her stomach, broken arm, gaping head wound and various cuts and bruises rushed the demon tackling it down to the ground keeping it away from Luke till he, Angel and the others arrived.

"Please don't leave my side tonight." Liz whispers into his chest.

"Of course not pet, but what brought this on? Did you see something?" His voice soothes some of her nerves.

Liz shakes her head, "No, but something is going to happen. With ithem/i coming I don't know what's going to happen, but it won't be anything good."

"Wait those wankers are coming to your parent's funeral? Bloody hell why?"

"As much as they hurt me I do have to admit that they cared for my parent's and it would be petty to not let them pay their respects." Liz admits.

"Be bloody petty, they are your parent's you can be as petty as you want." Spike tells her but knows that Liz could never be that way. No matter what he tells her she'll do what she wants and letting the people that hurt her but cared for her parent's be at the funeral was what she was going to do.

Lucas re-enters the room and jumps back into Spike's arms, after getting Luke settled in his arms Spike glances at the digital clock Liz had plugged in. "The others are downstairs pet, do you want to talk to them before we all leave?"

Liz nods, "Yea," swinging her legs over to the other side of the bed she stands up her pulling up her falling leather pants, she hates falling asleep in her leather it's always uncomfortable when she wakes up. She wasn't going to change for the funeral; the second after the service was over she was on patrol duty and she couldn't exactly kick ass in a dress, well she could but she'd be flashing her red thong underwear to everyone.

Angel and Spike offered to take over for her for as long as she needed, but she needed to keep busy, nothing else could keep her mind off her parent's death better than slaying the big bad evil. It was a huge shock when she found out that she wasn't just an alien hybrid but a Potential Slayer as well, when Faith died the Slayer power went to her.

"Do you want to go see Uncle Angel and Uncle Wesley kiddo?" Liz asks Lucas.

"Yea," Spike lets him down on the ground and off he runs to the stairs taking them slowly till he reaches the bottom and again he runs out to the Crashdown, his scream of joy can be heard even from upstairs.

"Uncle Angel, shouldn't it be more like Aunt Angel?"

"Be nice mister." Liz admonishes her husband as they leave the apartment to the Crashdown Café eating area.

TBC


	11. Chapter 10

A.N. I changed the chapters a bit. This chapter will be the present/future part, as will chapter 11. Chapter 12 will be the past part. Just a heads up so you don't get confused. There will be some not so great things that are going to be going on (mostly in chapter 11) and I wanted to deal with those first before going on to another past part.

Oh and Cordelia isn't blonde, IMO that look just didn't work for her, so she's back to the long dark brown hair. Much better hairstyle on her. And Cordy is still a demon just not a higher being.

**Chapter 10**

_February 17, 2005_

Riding in Spike's Desoto towards the cemetery brought the reality of her parent's death crashing home for Liz. Her parents were never coming back, they'd never see her Lucas play soccer, basketball, or any other sport, they'd never see Liz grow big with her second child, their second grandchild.

It was devastating, Liz and Spike found out she was a month pregnant a day before Alex called informing her of her mom and dad's murder. Liz feels guilty for being happy at a time like this but every time she thought about her new baby she couldn't help but smile, she was having Spike's child.

Giles figured it out a few months ago, after Buffy revealed the news of her pregnancy, which that Slayers and Master Vampires could conceive. Something about how the Master Vampire's sperm would warm in the Slayers body making the possibility of a having a baby high. Since the Slayer is human the baby can and normally survive. It was all very fascinating and it made Spike all the more…vigorous, Spike wanted a child with her as much as she wanted one with him.

Slowly Spike pulls into the graveyard, her parents plots visible even from the road, the Pod Squad, Alex, Serena, Maria, Kyle, and Maria's husband Darren were already there waiting. "Bloody tossers, Alex and Serena I expect but the rest of the wankers think they have a right to be here? It's insulting." Spike tells her.

"As long as they don't cause trouble they're welcome to be here Spike, I want to be petty but it wouldn't be fair. No matter the differences between us…" Liz shakes her head, "I can't deny them a last goodbye to my parent's." Spike's car comes to a complete stop about twenty feet from the plots; Angel's car pulls to a stop behind theirs.

Taking a deep breath Liz opens her door; the others in Spike's car and Angel's car follow suit. Cordelia, who rode with them, opens Luke's door and lifts him out of his car seat and into her arms. Liz, after checking Lucas is ok with Cordy she takes Spike's hand squeezing the cool appendage for comfort. Her friends and family trail behind her while Angel made his way to the other side of Liz rubbing her back as they walk closer to the graves.

Alex and Serena, who have already met Liz's new "extended" family, come forward and embrace the close knit group. Serena cradles Liz's face in her palms and sends comforting waves to her friend; she was full-blooded alien who has full-control of her powers, the least she could do was send soothing waves to Liz. Which she thanked by giving Serena a small smile of gratitude.

Spike and Angel guide Liz forward toward the closed caskets, the Pod Squad and company watch in silence as the group formed a tight half-circle surrounding Liz, as if protecting her. Max glares as the bleached blonde in a long black leather trench coat standing close to Liz presses a kiss to her head whispering to her. He couldn't hear what was being said but whatever it was it seemed to relax Liz a little more. Then there was the massive dark-haired man on the other side caresses her back, which one was her husband? Were they both her husbands?

The priest has yet to arrive so the estranged friends come forward, wanting to know more about this bunch that had made their way into Liz's heart. Max breathes in deeply calming his nerves, it was time to step up as a King and face, what he felt were intruders. "I'm Max Evans." He holds out his hand to be shaken but the two men next to Liz just raise twin eyebrows and stare at his hand with disdain. Awkwardly Max lowers his hand back to his side. "And who are all of you?"

Cordelia sensing that the two vampires won't be introducing themselves, she decides to take the matter into her owns hands. She hands Lucas to Fred who gives her tiny cousin a big smile and a kiss on the cheek. Maneuvering around the group of three she gives a very fake pleasant grin, "Well, I'm Cordelia Chase, part-time actress and full-time secretary for Angel Investigations. These two protective gentlemen are Spike, Liz's husband and…part-time detective for AI, and Angel, Liz's pseudo big brother and owner of AI."

She points to the people behind the three, "That's Fred Berkle, Liz's cousin and AI's researcher, along with Lucas William Parker, everyone's pride and joy." Luke blushes and hides his face in Fred's neck, breathing in the musty book smell that clung to her. "The rugged English gentleman is Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, researcher and detective at AI, and last but certainly not least Charles Gunn, detective and kick-ass boyfriend to me. And the rest of you are?" She grins again fake joy oozing out from every part of Cordy.

Feeling slightly intimidated by Cordelia Max takes a half-step back, almost like he's trying to run, something isn't right about that woman, he had to find out what it was so he can convince Liz that the people she has aligned herself with are the bad guys. "This is my sister Isabel Evans, she's working as an assistant our father's law firm, Michael Guerin, he's going to college part-time and working at Meta-Chem full-time, Tess Harding, secretary at my father's law firm, Kyle Valenti," at that Spike lets out a growl that can be clearly heard.

Liz glanced up at him with wide eyes, gently tugging on his hand cutting his growl off. "Continue please." Cordelia asks, which actually sounds more like a demand.

Reluctantly Max continues but stares suspiciously at Spike as he talks. "Kyle Valenti, he owns a garage and fixes up cars for people also works part-time at Meta-Chem with Michael. Maria Deluca-Jacobson, she works at the Crash, and Darren Jacobson, Maria's husband he's in the music business." He finishes explaining, although Max for the life of him has no idea why he disclosed that much to the curvy brunette.

Tess who has remained out of the situation since Liz arrived decided that now was the time for her to say her peace to Liz. Slowly she eases toward the leather clad brunette, "Liz, I know we've never been friends, mostly because always felt that I had to compete with you for everyone's attention but mostly Max's and later Kyle's."

Shaking her head, "Why did you feel like you had to compete with me?" Liz asks her, curious as to why the blonde pixie was telling her this and why now? Around Tess, Liz had always felt a little inadequate, her breasts weren't big enough, she wasn't curvy enough, and Tess had a tie to Max that she just didn't have. If anything she felt like she had to compete with Tess.

"Max loved you and he never stared at me the way he did you, there was never that I'm going to devour you hear me roar when he saw me. And Kyle he always had your back no matter what, even after you broke his heart for Max and then when you left he was so heartbroken and guilty." Tess sniffles but continues.

"Then the others, you were closer to Isabel then I had ever been, and that was a really hard pill to swallow because I was…" she was about to mention aliens. But she didn't want to reveal the group's secrets in front of a new group of people, but Liz put her fears to rest and also a concerned feeling.

Liz again shook her head this time with a small smile on her face. "Don't worry Tess, they know about aliens, and you all. It kind of became a well-known fact after I started showing signs of alien powers. So it's fine to talk about the alien chaos around them."

Max furious that Liz exposed their secret to these people stomped forward passed Tess almost pushing her aside to get as close as the AI team would allow him. He was so intent on lecturing Liz and her choices that he didn't catch the glare Tess sent him. "WHAT! How could you tell them? Now you're going to get them killed because the FBI are going to be after them all now that they know."

Spike annoyed at the little boy steps away from his wife and gets right up in Dumbo's face fighting his demon, who wants to come forward and teach the little bitch a lesson in how to talk to a lady, especially his mate. "Listen you bleeding tosser, no one and I mean no one is going to let a bunch of pansy-ass's in pressed suits take them without them wanting too. Believe me we can handle ourselves just fine."

"Obviously you don't know anything about the FBI or you wouldn't be saying shit like that, they are stronger than they look?" He sneers at the bleached blonde.

"Or maybe you're just weaker than you look?" Spike rakes his gaze over Max and his expression is less than impressed. Not that Liz could blame him, after being a vampire for over 150 years and seeing many different demons and whatnots a former alien King with weak powers weren't something to get excited about.

"Baby." Liz rests her hand on his muscled bicep. "Not here." She pleads with him, Liz was one of the very few people that could say a few words and have him back down.

"You're lucky my woman doesn't want blood-shed tonight or your head would be on my nightstand." He growls low but moves back to Liz easing his arm around her waist holding her close to his body.

Breathing in Liz turns her gaze back to Tess. "Before you were rudely interrupted by Max-hole over here, I believe you were speaking." She sends a glare over to Max before returning her eyes to Tess again waiting for her to continue with what she was talking about.

"Short version, you could make anyone love you and want to go out of their way to help you. I know why you did what you did with Kyle, Isabel and Michael know as well, there are no words that can describe what you gave up for us." Tears form in both women's eyes but Tess still seems like she has some more to say.

"And there are no words to describe how grateful we are to you. To make a long story and lot shorter, I was hoping we could start anew with each other. Be friends." Tess rubs her stomach calming her nerves and her easing away her nausea with her powers. When she was nervous or scared her and Kyle's baby could feel it and in turn made her mother's stomach queasy.

Swallowing passed the lump in her throat; Liz slowly nods her head. "Ok, we can give it a try, after all we have a lot in common. We both think why did we waste our time with Max over there, we're both pregnant by our honey's, and we have alien powers. Not to mention, if I remember correctly we both love watching Jensen Ackles as Alec in _Dark Angel_. I'd say that's enough to start building a friendship on."

"Of course, who doesn't like to see those rippling X-5 abs kick ass?" Tess questions.

"Mmm, damn right." Isabel pops up raising her eyebrows at the two recently agreed friends. Causing Spike, Kyle, and Michael to say 'Hey' to their women.

Despite their agreement to be try being friends Tess and Liz didn't hug each other, they weren't at that stage yet, and maybe they never would be, they just didn't want to rush right into being all buddy-buddy. Both women needed time to process before their friendship went any further.

Back on the gravel road leading up to the gravesite the four supernatural beings from LA heard a car drive up and instantly perked their ears to the side trying to get a good angle to hear better. It was far enough away where the humans and aliens that didn't have sensitive ears had no clue what Angel, Liz, Spike, and Cordelia heard.

As the car comes closer the humans and aliens can now hear it, it wasn't long before they could see the car pull up. The car has tinted windows, so even with their enhanced eyes they AI supernatural team couldn't tell who was in the silver Lexus. They only to wait a few moments before the passenger and driver side door opened, the occupants step out under the dim lights that lit the gravel road which only was enough light to show you where the boundaries of the road were.

Immediately when Liz's eyes zeroed in on the face getting out of the drivers side the blood in her veins turned to ice, her eyes hardened to cold steel, and every inch of her Slayer body was telling her to kill. He dared to come to her parent's funeral. Oh no, he was going to pay.

TBC


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_February 17, 2005_

Liz takes a menacing step forward, that asshole dare to come to her parent's funeral, there was no reason for him to be here none. Spike hisses and growls at the man ambling forward with two white roses in hand, Liz is about to run and attack, Spike sees her whole body tense and flex into fighting ready.

"Let me pet." He whispers, she shouldn't have to deal with this, not today.

Before Spike can move from her side Liz rests a tiny yet deadly hand on his stomach, "No, I need to do this." She whispers. "Fred, please take Lucas to Spike's car, keep him busy, he doesn't need to see this." Her cousin nods carrying her cousin's child quickly out of view from the violence that will no doubt occur.

Phillip and Diane Evans slow to a halt about twenty feet from Liz and her protective family. Max had a good idea as to what Liz would do to his father, when the former King invited his father to the funeral he had hoped they could talk and work everything out but that doesn't seem like it's going to be the case. In an attempt to stop the impending fight Max steps forward gripping her arm in his hand. He never expected Liz to turn around and punch him square in the jaw, the blow was so powerful and shocking that he fell flat on the cool grass.

"Don't you ever touch me Max, how the hell did he find out about the funeral? I sure as shit didn't tell him." She hisses angrily at him. Liz doesn't wait for an answer instead she grabs the lapels to his suit and hauls him back up on his feet. "Why do I get the impression that it was you who told the murdering fuck that my parent's funeral was tonight?"

Liz was so focused on Max and his betrayal and stupidity that she didn't hear Phillip Evans come closer to her, "Yes he told me Liz, but I would have come anyway. We need to talk this out, you know that I never meant to kill your parents, I cared about them too." He pleads.

Dropping Max like a rag doll she twists her body around, her expertly shoots out solidly kicking Phillip Evans in the gut. Gasps from the group in attendance, minus the AI team, sounded, utter shock and disbelief that Liz was using physical violence. "You cared about them?" She speaks in mock caring, she stands over his coughing body, "Where was your caring when you fell asleep at the wheel?" She snarls.

"Please," Phillip begs coughing roughly, "You don't want to," cough, wheeze, "hurt me Liz." Cough, "What would your parent's say?" Diane who has shaken out of her shock rushed to her husband's side only to have Wesley hold her back.

"I wouldn't Mrs. Evans, your husband brought this on himself. I'd hate to see you get in the middle of a fight where Liz is on the other side." He implores.

"But she's going to kill him." Diane shouts. Phillip's ribs weren't completely healed, the kick to the gut could have broken them all over again and damaged some of his organs.

"It's nothing the bastard doesn't right deserve. Besides I doubt she'll kill him, just beat him up a bit, maybe a break a few fingers." Spike smirks and wiggles his fingers at Diane taunting her. Her jaw-drop of horror caused Spike's grin to increase. He rocks on his feet hooking his fingers in his belt loops; he loves playing with gullible humans. Digging into his trench coat he pulls out a cigarette lights it and continues to watch Liz deal with Phillip the way she wants too.

"My parent's?" Liz blinks her eyes full of fake innocence. "My parent's would give their full god damned blessing if I kicked your ass or better yet if I killed you. See they were big believers in the whole eye for an eye deal, if someone screws you, you screw them right back only harder." Liz giggles crazily not because she herself was losing it necessarily but she wanted Phillip to think she had. Or that could be something she just wishes was the case and she really was going off the deep end.

The only action she wanted to take against this man was to snap his neck; her fingers even flexed preparing for the fatal twist and crunch of fragile neck bones. Every muscle, every cell, every fiber of her being was intent on destroying Phillip Evans, but she knew if she gave into her dark side his ghost would haunt her for the rest of her life. Maybe not his actual ghost but she would see him everywhere she went it would be her guilty conscious screaming out at her.

Slowly, cautiously Liz eases away from her parent's killer; she didn't trust herself to move quickly. The muscles tightly wrapped and intertwined under her skin, the primal nature of Slayers, her overwhelming anger all would make controlling her muscles in fast movement near impossible. Jaw clenched and body tense Liz spoke to Phillip, "Leave. You leave now, you don't belong here," her eyes bore into his sprawled limp body. "Nothing you say will make my parent's come back; coming here only put your pathetic existence in danger. Leave now and I don't kill you, stay and I can't guarantee you won't be joining the hundreds of dead bodies in this cemetery."

Phillip, not being a particularly stupid man, scrambles up from the cool damp grass, grabs his wife from Wesley's grasp and hurries from the graveyard. Not looking back once, he starts the car speeding out of the cemetery almost colliding with another car entering through the gates. Everyone, even the non-superpowers heard the train of expletives coming from the innocent bystander.

Spike, who has since extinguished his cigarette eases up behind his mate gently turning her towards him, clutching her close to his chest. The second she was safe and secure in his arms she began to cry, "Oh God Spike," gasp, "I was…I was going to kill him. If he said a single word," gasp, "he would have been dead."

Spike strokes her hair, "No you wouldn't have," he says with conviction, "it's no surprise that you wanted too, it's natural to feel that way luv. He killed your parent's, took them away from you."

"But, I'm the Slayer, if I think that he should die my Slayer kicks in and," sniffle, Liz burrows her head deeper into Spike's chest, "Christ, I could have killed him." She tightens her hold on his jacket.

Cordelia and Fred, who had just moments after Phillip left in a rush came back with Lucas, had tears in their eyes listening to Liz and watching Spike comfort her. "You could have, but you wouldn't have. You're heart is too pure to kill a human no matter what he's done to you." The only way she would kill a human would be if someone had hurt Lucas, then all bets were off.

Slowly her tears subside until all anybody could hear was small hiccups and a tiny laughter muffled by Spike's now undoubtedly tear soaked shirt. "Feel better now luv. Got all the nasties out?" He rumbles into her hair.

"Not yet, I have some more in there." She shakily smiles a childish grin. It's enough to let Spike know that she's going to be ok for now. That she got out the demons that were eating away at her at the moment but that there were still a few more to come later.

Spike cups her cheeks in his palms wiping at her tears with his thumb and stares into her eyes conveying all the love he feels towards her. It was then that the real world began to poke its way back into Spike and Liz's private space, the priest had arrived while Spike was comforting her, he was the one Phillip had almost run into, and he's the one that was swearing like a sailor.

"Mrs. Parker-Hamilton?" The priest questions starting at Liz. At her nod he holds out his hand, to shake hers, to which she promptly embraces with her own. "It is such a pleasure to finally meet you, however I wish it wasn't because of these dire circumstances." He sadly smiles. "I've heard so much about you from my son, I'm sure you remember him."

"Umm, I don't know, who's your son?" Liz asks him while Spike stares at the priest confused as to where this guy's son knows his wife from; it could be any number of people that Liz saved. Doesn't mean she'll remember anything, or given it's Roswell it could be someone Liz dated before she met him.

No one from the Roswell group knew who this man was besides the priest that was 'special-ordered' by Fred. Coming up behind Liz, Fred rests her hand on her shoulder causing Liz to look at her. "He's Father Eliyus." That was enough to whip Liz's head around to face him again.

"Your son's Jeremy," Suddenly all the AI team knew exactly who this man was. Jeremy Eliyus is a little boy that was taken by a group of Crakus demons that had tried to get at Luke when he was two. After the AI team killed the demon that went after Luke and Liz was recovered she went on a killing spree, her targets the Crakus demons. It was there that she saved and met little Jeremy Eliyus.

"Yes, he talks about you still and has dreams about you coming into save him from the monsters. My boy just celebrated his seventh birthday last week." He smiles at her.

Liz wishes she could feel like she deserved his praise, but she doesn't. She hadn't gone to that cave to save his son; she went there to make sure that that type of demon wouldn't attack her son again. So far no new clan of Crakus had been spotted in LA, they probably heard that they'd be killed the second they arrived.

"I'm glad he's ok. And thank you for agreeing to come all the way here from LA to bury my parents." Liz noticed he wasn't a cross, which was very odd for a priest. "Umm, if you don't mind me asking, where's your cross." Not that she minded because of Spike and Angel but she was curious.

"Oh, Winifred told me not to wear it, she mentioned that umm, you had some people in your group that wouldn't appreciate it very much." He casts quick glances to Angel and Spike, nodding to them nervously.

Liz nods, "Don't worry, they won't bite." She smirks and winks up at Spike.

"I'd beg to differ luv." Spike leers down at her, the lust clear in his gaze.

Moments later everyone is gathered around the graves, everything was going all right, there was very little problems from the Pod Squad and company, the priest was speaking over the Parker's graves before they were to be lowered down. But Liz couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, she kept feeling that there was a vampire out there.

As the coffins were descending down into the holes an arm punches through Jeff's casket. The P.S. and everyone not the AI Team backed up, Liz lost all color in her face and looked like she was going to throw up, Spike and Angel's face vamped out ready for a fight. They didn't know if Liz would be able to do what needed to be done.

"No," She gasps out, "please no."

TBC


	13. Chapter 12

A.N. 2: The Crakus demons were mentioned in Chapter 9, I just hadn't come up with a name for them at that time. So if you want go ahead and re-read that last section with Spike and Liz in Chapter 9 to refresh your memory on that incident.

A.N. I'm not that happy with this part but I hope its ok.

**Chapter 12**

_February-March; 2001; Liz's Room_

Growling at her cousin Liz turns over, irritated that she and Wesley won't leave her alone. Lorne was busy taking care of Gunn checking to make sure nothing permanent happened when Liz electrocuted him; she felt horrible about what happened to him but unfortunately she couldn't take it back.

The whole time she has been awake Fred and Wesley were right there, first making sure she was alright, then after she repeatedly told them she was fine they began hounding her with questions. Liz hears Angel's heavy footsteps in the hallway outside her room along with Buffy's graceful and confident steps; over the past couple months she has learned to recognize everyone's footsteps.

Before she became a part of the alien Abyss she never did that, but she trained herself, she had to if she wanted a fighting chance at staying alive. Liz knew Max, Michael, Isabel, Maria, Alex, Jim, Kyle, and her parents footsteps, and about 2 months before she moved here she learnt Tess and Nasedo's footsteps.

"Liz, how did that happen? There's no way your body could omit that much static to create that powerful of a jolt." Fred questions her cousin trying to make sense of what happened earlier that evening.

Sighing Liz practically begs them to leave her alone, what she did was something she didn't feel like discussing at the moment. With what she saw downstairs in the lobby of the hotel was enough to make her weak with shock, normally big heavy rock guys didn't come around to try to kill her. But then again aliens didn't usually save her life but that happened almost two years ago, so why not rock boy?

For a few seconds she was so into her own thoughts that she lost track of Buffy and Angel's footsteps and those few moments were long enough where they were able to make it to her room door. "Fred, Wes, can we talk to Liz for a little while alone?"

"Of course." Wesley seems like he's about to bow to Buffy and Liz but remembers where he was and stopped himself from finishing or even starting to bow. It had been drilled into him since he was a child that you bow to ladies when you leave a room, and although both Liz and Buffy are ladies they would stare at him oddly, which they already did plenty of.

Wesley and Fred leave Liz's room closing the door behind them leaving only Angel and Buffy alone with Liz. "Listen, I'm sure you want to know everything about why I'm green electric girl and I wanna know all about Big Mean Rocky Mt. Guy, but can we hold off this convo till tomorrow?" She pleads with her friends.

Angel shakes his head, "I wish we could but we need to deal with this now, there might not be time later." He says ominously.

"Way to put her at ease." Buffy glares at her mate the bite on her neck throbbing with just the close proximity of him. The Slayer sits on Liz's bed as she turns over to face the supernatural couple.

Sighing Angel runs his fingers through his spiked hair. "It's not like we have a whole hell of a lot of time to tell her about what she needs to know, Giles confirmed everything and you have to go back to Sunnydale tomorrow morning I'm not seeing a whole lot of options here."

Rolling her eyes at the two lovers Liz sits up to make sure both of them are looking at her. "Listen why don't you just tell me so I can get some sleep ok?" Her nervousness and concern for what was to come suddenly disappeared, she knows she didn't do anything so who made those feelings go away?

Almost immediately a warm sensation floated across her belly, quickly she lifts her shirt up just enough so her belly was showing. And fluttering across her abdomen was Lucas's hand print, letting her know in his own way that he was the cause of her sudden lack of worry. Fascinated Liz giggles at her stomach brushing her hand against the trail of silver that was left behind.

"Uhh, Liz?" Buffy frowns, "why was your stomach glowing?" Curious as to what was going on with Liz, mostly out of concern because she didn't know what it was.

Smiling up at them. "It's Lucas, my baby." A dreamy expression comes over her. The joy she was feeling was making her a lot more agreeable to things. "How about I tell you about me and then you tell me about Rock Boy ok?" She pulls her shirt back down to cover her stomach.

Buffy and Angel nod listening to everything Liz has to say about whom and now _what_ she is. She explains everything from her being shot and Max healing her to the last moment she was close to the group, which was before sleeping with Kyle. Liz even told them about her being ostracized from the group and the jocks wanting to have their ticket punched letting everyone know that they got a ride on the Liz-train.

After the initial shock wore off Buffy and Angel took their turn in the explanation. Buffy practically told Liz her entire Slaying history; her relationship with Angel at sixteen was included in the story telling as well, much to Angel's embarrassment. Now he wasn't ashamed or anything like that by his relationship with Buffy, far from it, he just didn't feel it was something Buffy needed to tell the girl he has begun to view as a little sister.

When everything was said and done up to the last couple of weeks Buffy took that moment to ask Liz if she had any questions before she went on. Liz had many questions, but none that couldn't wait till later, it's been three hours since the revealing of information began, and Liz was tired. It was then that Buffy dropped the big news, so to speak.

"Liz, I told you all of that because now I have to tell you this. You remember when I said I was called because I had been chosen to fight evil?" At Liz's nod she continues. "Well you need to know that it can one day happen to you as well. You're a Potential like so many of the other girls staying at my home in Sunnydale."

Instead of nodding Liz shakes her head not wanting to hear that. It was one thing that Buffy was a Slayer, Angel a vampire, Lorne a demon, Wesley a Watcher, and Fred and Gunn part of this whole thing. That should could handle, but the fact that she too might become like Buffy, fighting the forces of evil only to die? Information like that didn't fit into her plan that she had for herself and her child, at least with being an alien hybrid she could control her life still.

"Liz, I understand that this is a lot to take in. Buffy and I will leave you alone now, you can think about this and we'll talk later tomorrow alright?" Liz nods still not saying a word as Angel and Buffy leave her alone to contemplate everything that has transpired.

TBC


	14. Chapter 13

Wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone for being patient on my stories and thank everyone who reads and gives FB on my many stories. Cookies, candy, and hugs for everyone. You're all wonderful.

Now onto the story information, I promise how Jeff is a vampire will be explained (not completely in this chapter, you'll get a bit about it though). I'm not sure how long this fic is going to be (got an e-mail a few weeks ago asking how long I was planning to make this fic and I don't really know), there are still a lot of things to cover in the past parts and a couple more things that I know I want to happen in the future/present parts. After this chapter though the next couple of chapters will be past so I can get some of that out of the way.

**Chapter 13**

_February 17, 2005_

Liz watches in utter shock as her father claws out of his coffin. Her beloved father was a vampire, a soulless creature that she would have to kill. "Daddy." She whimpers a tear escapes sliding down her cheek to fall onto the cool wet grass under her feet.

"What the Hell is going on?" Maria shouts turning away from the flying wood of Jeff Parker's coffin. This was unreal, even knowing about aliens couldn't have prepared her for watching her ex-friend's father climbing from his coffin when he was supposed to be dead.

Spike and Angel move forward to take care of Jeff, Liz couldn't do this, it would tear her apart and neither vampire was willing to let that happen to her. However they didn't expect Liz to stop them, she lifted her arms and grabbed their jackets. Angel and Spike could have pushed away from her but there was a look in her eyes that neither liked.

"Baby?" Spike whispers.

"No," Her chin quivers. "I have to." She was the Slayer; it was her job, not theirs. Besides it was her father or at least his body if she didn't do this it would haunt her. Hell it probably would still haunt her but at least it would be her choice.

"Noo," Spike drawls out in his sexy voice, in a tone that said it was stupid to think that she should do this, "you don't. You shouldn't have to take care of this. Let the Angel and I handle it." The fact that Spike spoke Angel's real name without an insult attached gave Angel pause, even in the most dire of situations he was putting his Sire down, but when it was Liz Spike is all business. It was then Angel truly believes that his Childe would be there for her pseudo sister till the day that he died…again.

Liz shakes her head and releases a shaky breath as her father pushes the cover off of his coffin, her jaw locks and she pulls a stake out from the back of her pants. Her mind blocks off any emotions flowing out, Liz needed to be cold and unfeeling. Feeling, emotions, and crying would come later, but now she had to protect her family and the world from her vampire father. There were times for emotions but now they would only hinder her.

Her eyes turn to ice, the sparkle gone from the depths of her dark brown eyes. Liz's once soft jaw tightens till her teeth are clenched together, a bottom tooth is grinding against a cracked upper tooth and it gives her the physical pain to get through this staking. She turns her head enough to check on Lucas but not to take her gaze off her vampire father, Cordy, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred ran him to the car and are rallied around Spike's car.

Isabel watches Liz give absolutely no emotion to the…thing, there is no other way to put what Jeff Parker has become, that was her friend's father. To anyone with eyes it's obvious that Liz's father isn't in there any longer, but if he isn't Jeff who is he and why is standing when he should be resting comfortably dead in a coffin.

Liz simply stands there no more than ten feet from the vampire, staring at the snarling creature, for a fleeting moment she thought maybe they could curse him with a soul. Angel is cursed and his demon self killed hundreds…thousands of people and he's living a relatively happy life, her father could too…right? But as quickly as that thought came she shook it off, he would hate being a vampire, and Mom is still dead, he'd greet the day as soon as possible.

Jeff searches around with his vampire eyes, everything is brighter, it's like day but at night. Wasn't there a car crash, he turns his neck and hears a loud crack as it pops back into place, the last thing he remembers is a violent pain in his neck and then nothing. No that isn't right, he recalls man ripping off the truck door he had a weird looking face. His mind is fuzzy; he can't seem to focus, he's hungry.

Finally Jeff stares up at his daughter, the power flowing off of her is intoxicating, the blood he smells under her skin with his vampire senses makes him want to drink from her powerful well. "Lizzie." He drawls out softly enjoying the jump in jaw, she didn't like that.

"That's not going to work. You're not my Dad." Angel blinks at how those words hit home, Buffy said those words to him after he became Angelus and they were fighting at the Mall. If only his love knew that Angelus really did and still does want her, he only hurt her that night in his apartment because he had no clue what to do with those feelings.

Even now Angelus roars in his head that his mate is not near, ever since finding out she's pregnant neither Angel nor his demon counterpart can stand being away from Buffy. Both want to keep her near and safe from harm, but Angel seems to have more control over his cave-man side and knows Buffy can take care of herself.

Jeff smirks and nods, "Oh that's right. Besides you're not my daughter anyway, no daughter of mine would leave her family for greener pastures in LA. Boo-who, you fucked some guy, got pregnant with his bastard child and then waited till I croaked to come back to your roots and take everything of mine."

Liz bites her tongue, she refuses to get into a verbal battle with him, even when her father had a soul and was alive he had a wicked tongue that could make anyone cry. When he was mad look out because whoever got in his way became a victim of his smart-ass and sarcastic remarks. Never had he turned those remarks on her…till now.

"I'm sorry Daddy." She speaks in the vampire's direction but she's not speaking to him. As of ten seconds ago she managed to separate the demon and her father completely, her father is in Heaven or some heavenly dimension. It won't make this any easier and it won't make the pain go away any faster but at that moment it gives her the strength to do what she has to do.

Liz pulls out a stake from her waist band, "Now, Lizzie, you wouldn't kill dear old Dad now would you?" Jeff eases forward slowly, Spike and Angel take a step forward as well but are stopped by Liz's raised hand, she doesn't want them getting in the middle of this.

Jeff continues to glide toward his daughter, keeping a very watchful eye on the stake she has resting at her side. She hasn't even raised it yet but that doesn't mean she's not ready to stab him through the chest with it. However the expression gracing the Slayer's face is one of pain and determination, he fights the urge to snort, no way would she kill her own father.

"You don't know what I'll do." Her voice never reaches above a whisper.

Finally within a hairs breath of Liz, Jeff leans down to whisper into Liz's ear, "Just think, no Slayer has ever been turned before, you and I could rule the world. Spread evil and chaos." He licks her ear and Liz has to force herself not to throw-up and keep a straight face.

With a well of tears rising, the staking has to be done quickly, no way would she give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. "Why does evil always insist on taking over the world." It only comes out in a whisper, a quick motion is all it took the stake slides into the vampire's chest and it bursts into dust. Flakes of the vampire fall on the ground; the wind picks up the rest and scatters the dust through the cemetery.

Liz wobbles and Spike is by her side holding her as she falls to the ground on her knees. The world falls away, all that's left is the buzzing in her head after a slay. Everything, after killing an evil doer is electrified, her entire body wants to let loose so much pent up energy but this time all that's there is the buzzing. Normally her senses are heightened, now she hears nothing, nothing except the buzz.

She doesn't feel Spike picking her up in his arms, she doesn't remember him placing her in the backseat with Lucas and holding her child close to her as if someone would take him away. Liz doesn't hear Spike tell Angel and the rest of the AI team to meet them at the Crashdown, and she doesn't hear Spike tell the Pod Squad and friends to stay away from his wife. All she can hear is that buzzing, all she can feel is her child next to her.

TBC


	15. Chapter 14

A.N. Alright I'm going to start bringing the Scoobies and other Potentials in and Spike baby (although Spike isn't in this chapter). Couple things you need to know, I'm not a huge Scooby fan after from the beginning of Season 6. And I have even more issues with them after Empty Places, the ep where they kicked Buffy out. Kennedy (Willow's girl toy) is going to be bashed somewhat, I really like daydreaming about ways to kill the annoying Potential (as well as the other Potentials). It's quite possible she'll be harmed so you have been warned. Denotes talking on screen 

**Chapter 14**

_April 30, 2001_

Over the passed month life at the Hyperion Hotel has gotten far more interesting than the previous months since she's been here. For starters Gunn broke up with her, his reason, or at least the reason he told her, was that they weren't right for each other, and it would be better if they break up. Break up before their relationship went any further and they ended up hurting far more than they do now.

Liz knew the truth, he was freaked. Freaked, Buffy's been spending far too much time at the hotel she's starting to adopt her speech. Her alien side scares him and Gunn doesn't want to be apart of something that out there. At least vampires and demons are from this planet.

Since Ithat/I night, remember when she zapped Gunn? Well she's gotten better at controlling her powers, a lot of broken computers, lamps, glasses, etc were the consequences of her getting better but now when she gets upset she can stop the powers from shooting out. The last thing she wants would be to hurt someone she loves with powers that are uncontrollable.

Of course the next morning after the incident with Rock Boy and electrocuting Gunn she still wasn't thrilled in the least that she was a Potential. A large part of her wanted to run, run so far that nothing could harm her or her child, but then she thought to herself, would she rather be alone and a Slayer or with people who knew what she was going through and could help her? Liz went with option number two, and if she's killed in battle, than at least her son will be taken care of.

Mentally shaking her head she releases that thought not wanting to deal with it; Buffy is back at the Hotel but it hasn't been a happy time for her. Yesterday night the people that she has been protecting for seven years and supporting for the passed few months kicked her out—of her own house no less, only to choose the other Slayer who had previously caused a whole bunch of trouble for Buffy and everyone. What kind of crap is that?

Buffy lived and breathed her Calling, as much as she loves Angel and she would lay down her life for him, even he isn't before her Calling. Don't get her wrong he's right after her Slayer duties but Buffy had reached a point in her life where she knew she had to be a Slayer first and a lover second.

According to Buffy she'd been right about the vineyard, Caleb, the main bad guy, was hiding something. She says _'was'_ because now Buffy has the weapon he kept hidden there, after she retrieved the Scythe, whatever that is, she left Sunnydale to come to LA and to the one person who would protect her and support her in everything she does, Angel.

Now for an even bigger problem, Angel has been replaced, by Angelus. Whose Angelus you ask? Well she'll tell you, he is the baddest motherfucker in the vampire world, or he was until a soul got jammed into him. Buffy when she first told Liz about her relationship with Angelus she was interrupted repeatedly by Angel telling her that Angelus only killed those people because they hurt Buffy or he was sending his affection.

While Buffy was away in Sunnydale dealing with more Potentials and the First and Caleb the AI team figured out that Angelus knew about the Beast even if Angel didn't. A spell had been done when Angel was Angel but that didn't affect Angelus' memories. Wesley tracked down a Shaman and they extracted Angel's soul, leaving behind Angelus.

Buffy is downstairs right now speaking to Angelus; he won't talk to anybody but his lover. Wesley went down there first, Buffy had yet to arrive, and got no where with the Scourge of Europe. Taunted Wes for a good long while too, but still even after all that didn't spill one word about the Big Bad Beast.

Angelus even taunted her when she went down there to help Fred and Gunn feed him his cup of blood, according to Wes having Angelus taunt was a compliment. He said a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo but the basic gist of what he said is that it means Angel cares a great deal about her if Angelus is going to all this trouble to try and hurt her. Really she's flattered and everything but couldn't he just give her a hug…without ripping out her throat?

Now Liz is just sitting in the lobby watching the screen as Buffy and Angelus speak to each other. Why did the Beast contact you? What did he want you to do? Ever since Angelus saw his lady love he's been telling everything he knows on the Beast. After everything she's heard about the evil vampire she didn't think she'd see him rolling over giving up anything he knows.

Ever heard of the Svea Priestesses? Liz sees Buffy shake her head negatively. They're very powerful, big on the banishing. His voice oozes sex appeal, Hell his whole body oozes sex appeal how can Buffy stand it? If it gives her a warm sensation in the pit of her stomach Buffy's sensations are probably a hundred times stronger.

Lorne comes easing down the stairs; his head is ringing from the emotions pulsing in the basement. "I need a Sea Breeze." He moans out. "Hey there Cream Puff what are ya doin' down here? Shouldn't you be going to work?"

"Should but with everything going on figured I might be more needed here. Besides Buffy asked me to watch just in case. Not that I could do much except maybe fly him into a wall if he gets me pissed enough." Two weeks ago she got off her butt and began searching for jobs, when she first arrived in LA all she wanted to do was sleep, Angel and the others were kind enough to let her be but she couldn't continue to mooch of her friends. It wasn't in her nature.

She got a waitress job, granted that's not what she wants to do with the rest of her life but for a seventeen year old girl she'd take what she could get. Lovingly she rubs her belly, a small smile creeps out onto her face.

"Thinking of that beautiful bun in the oven huh?" Lorne takes a seat next to Liz wrapping a badly colored suit arm around her. "Come on, something's on your mind Hybrid," a nickname he gave her after she told them all about her various abilities, "tell Uncle Lorne all about it." He doesn't have to have her sing for him, she's projecting big time and all he wants is to make his friend feel better. Plus as an added bonus some of the pain in his head will go away.

She sends Lorne a sad little smile, "I've been thinking about other options for a few days now," Liz licks her lips, "I'm wondering if I shouldn't give Lucas up for adoption after he's born." A tear rises but doesn't fall. "Knowing what I know now, about aliens, vampires, demons, maybe he'd be better off away from all this."

Lorne holds Liz close to him cradling her head, "Oh Lizzie." Softly he begins to croon a mellow tune that always eased his aches. For the first time in a long while he wasn't sure what to say, he didn't know what she should do. Lorne sees that giving Lucas up for adoption might be the best thing however the danger to him wouldn't go away, he's the son of the next Slayer, yes he knows who's next in line, even who doesn't have a chance of becoming a Slayer. Son of the next Slayer and part alien, humans, aliens, and demons will want their hands on this child.

Snuggled close to Lorne breathing in the scent of his freshly pressed suit, smoke, various hints of demons from his re-modeled club, and alcohol enter her nose comforting her. "If he stays here with me, something could happen to him and I couldn't live with myself if anything happened." She whispers, Lorne's soft melody wraps her in warmth while she vents; she loves hearing him sing.

Sniffing she lifts her head from his shoulder, "Thanks Doodle Bug." She hugs him tight, "You have a talent for making me forget I'm hurting. Still don't know what I'm going to do but…" She leaves the sentence unfinished remembering her promise to Buffy.

Turning her gaze back to the screen in front of her she cringes seeing what's being played out. Buffy is plastered flat against the bars so close that she's almost mating with the steel, Angelus is clutching his lover tight kissing the daylights out of her. Seeing Buffy grasp at Angelus' black shirt pulling him closer tells her more than she really wanted to know about her blonde friend.

"That looks painful." Lorne grimaces as teeth clash and tongues mate much like their owners want to with their bodies.

"Oh she's enjoying it." Liz confirms. If it looked like Angelus was about to kill Buffy she'd be down there in a heartbeat ready to blast the evil fucker all the way into the wall. However Buffy made her promise that the only reason for her to go down there to stop Angelus was if she was in trouble.

Lorne shifts his gaze from the couple on the screen to Liz. "Aren't you going to go down there and break them up?" Wouldn't this be considered trouble?

"I would if I saw that Buffy wanted out of Angelus' arms but from the way she's grabbing him it's clearly wanted attention. I'm staying out of it until I hear her say 'no' or 'stop'. Besides do I really want to get in the middle of a horny Slayer and a vicious vampire? Don't think so." She grins over at him.

"Good point." Abruptly the front double doors in the hotel are flung open and in march an older version of Wesley with glasses and a feisty looking brunette in tight dark blue jeans, black t-shirt and a leather jacket. Behind them is an entire group of people; Liz narrows her eyes at the intruders. What the Hell is going on?

TBC


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

_April 30, 2001_

"You know most people knock." Her few months here taught her the valuable skill of a good snarky come back. "By the look of the crossbows and scared little girls I'm assuming this is the crack team of betrayers. You can leave."

"Hybrid sweetie those crossbows look mighty mean…the people attached to them don't look to friendly either." Lorne whispers into her ear. That Slayer fire present even now inside of Liz could very well get her into some trouble and that's the last thing any of them need.

Wesley having heard the doors banging open ran to his weapon cabinet suiting up for a battle and ran downstairs to fight whatever evil dared cross their doorstep. Much to his surprise it was Giles, Faith, the Scoobies, and the Potentials Buffy spoke of standing in the doorway. "Why are Earth are you pointing crossbows at Liz and Lorne?" Buffy questions from the entrance to the basement.

Cordelia, Fred, and Gunn come charging downstairs from their rooms packing stakes, crossbows, and flame-throwers thinking Angelus got lose somehow. Buffy leaves the entryway leading to the basement right by her side is Angelus looking pissed off. "WHOA! He out!" Cordelia raises a crossbow but Buffy stops her with a loud 'No.'

"It's fine Cordy, we have a deal." Buffy simply tells her not willing to explain any further right now. At the moment they have much more important things to deal with, the group in front of them the main concern. "Now I ask again, why are you pointing crossbows at my friends?"

Giles seeing the fire in Buffy's eyes lowers his crossbow signaling the others to follow suit. "I apologize Buffy, we saw a demon and assumed he was one of the many evil demons roaming this city." He says with a little sarcastic edge.

"Well, that's two things you were wrong about Ripper." Angelus snarls from behind his love. He promised he wouldn't kill anyone while out of his cage. If he did it'd be right back into his metal prison waiting for the soul to be jammed back in and he'd be back in his normal cell.

Faith shoots quick glances from Angelus to Buffy to Giles. How the Hell did he get loose? Most importantly why is he roaming around the hotel no problem? Giles does not look happy, Faith can see he's twitching, he wants to raise that crossbow right back up and point it at the evil demon that killed his girlfriend.

"Have you truly lost your mind Buffy? You let a killer roam free and you do nothing?" Giles narrows his eyes.

Liz keeps her expression neutral—or as neutral as possible with a group of people grating on her last nerve. She too wonders why Buffy let Angelus out, doesn't think it's such a great idea but it's a concern that she'd take up with Buffy in private. The last thing her friend needs is to have another friend question her judgement in front of everyone.

"No Giles I haven't lost my mind." She crosses his arms and offers no more insight on that matter. "Now since I can tell you probably won't leave unless you say your peace why don't you come in. Luckily this is one place you can't kick me out of." Buffy digs. Angelus wraps his arm around her waist and they walk together to the front desk.

These meddlesome humans hurt his mate one too many times. Before he wasn't really trying to kill them back when Buffy was in high school, that would hurt Buffy but now he can honestly say he doesn't think Buff would miss them. Dawn maybe but none of the others, he could spend months torturing them all. Angelus salivates at the thought that would be delicious.

With obvious reluctance the group enters the large lobby keeping watchful eyes on Angelus and Buffy who is rising up to sit on the surface of the front desk. Angelus stands by her side comforting her with his presence alone.

Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Liz, and Fred stand near Buffy showing a united front against the unwelcome guests. None of them may understand or agree with Buffy letting Angelus roam free but they all agreed on one thing, Buffy knows what she's doing, if she and Angelus came to a deal they would support her.

"So, mind telling me what all of you are doing here? Last I knew none of you wanted me anymore." Angelus growls at that but keep uncharacteristically quiet. This is something Buffy needs to handle herself, she wouldn't be pleased if he spoke up right now.

Willow speaks first. "We heard you left Sunnydale. What would happen if we need you Buffy?"

Buffy stares at her in confusion. "Ok so let me get this straight, you wanted me out of my own home because you didn't trust my judgement, which by the way is perfectly fine. However you want me around just in case you need some muscle. Is that about the gist of it." Her voice is as hard as steel but her eyes flare with fury.

"We needed you out of the house Buffy but not out of the fight. Can't you see that we still need you to be a Slayer?" Xander argues. Faith closes her eyes against Xander's stupidity that would not be the winning argument to get her back.

"What are you talking about Xander, we don't need her." Kennedy jumps into the conversation. "She's been getting us killed, besides we have a Slayer, we don't need Buffy. Still don't know why the Hell we're here in the first place."

Liz pushes her body away from the front desk and stalks up to the annoying girl. The brunette with a big mouth can only be a few months younger than her but Liz can't help but view her as a child. "Listen little girl, you need to learn some respect. You have not been fighting the forces of evil for eight years; you shouldn't have say in anything. If it were up to me you'd bow to Buffy because she deserves to be bowed to for everything she has done."

Angelus smirks at Liz standing up to the annoying one. He knew there was something about this girl, besides Angel's residual feelings, that he liked. She has spunk, courage, and a vicious streak. As a creature of the night whose vicious streak is legendary he knows the signs. Buffy's expression is one of pride and awe, it has to have been a while since someone spoke up on her behalf and she's in slight shock.

"And who the Hell are you?" Kennedy sneers, she would not be put down by a girl who she viewed as her lesser.

A snide smirk creeps out onto Liz's lips. "Liz Parker, one of the many Potentials. However unlike you I seem to know my place in this world. You are not a Slayer, you may never become one but you certainly act like you are the next in line."

"You're a Potential? A little chubby aren't you? Not working out a whole lot?" To Kennedy's displeasure Liz doesn't lose her smirk. If anything it becomes more pronounced.

"Yeah pregnancy will do that to ya. Unfortunately you can't say the same thing. Got a little weight gain around your hips sweetie, a couple extra side leg lifts should help with that." Instantly Liz's smirk disappears and she, along with Angelus and Buffy, turns her head toward the double entrance doors. The slight shaking under their feet gets more prominent, tinkling of the glass light fixtures sound around the room.

Buffy jumps down from the front desk, from behind it she pulls out the scythe she took from Caleb and the First. Liz goes into an automatic fighting stance; Angel, Buffy, and Wesley have been helping her with her fighting skills. Angelus rushes to his weapon cabinet grabbing two swords swinging them expertly, Wesley and Gunn stand next to Liz while Cordy, Lorne, and Fred stay in the back but still ready to jump in the fray.

Liz expected the Beast to show up, but it wasn't the Beast. It was a group of demons, demons looking to kill all the innocents they followed from the second they entered LA. With a deep breath Liz gets ready to fight.

TBC


	17. Chapter 16

A.N. I'm changing one thing, in the beginning of this fic I put in an author's note that Darla was staked by Buffy. That's changed now, if it wasn't this chapter would make no sense. So that's the only thing different. Enjoy.

**Chapter 16**

_February 17, 2005_

From the shadows the vampiress watches as the Slayer kills her Childe. "Dammit, if only he hadn't awoken so soon." She snarls. Why do Slayers always fuck up everything she works so hard for, that blonde bitch took her sweet boy away, now the brunette staked her most recent Childe.

Darla had the perfect plan, turn the Slayers father and teach him the fine art of torture then let him loose on the girl. Weeks before she had come up with her entire plan and decided on which parent to turn, she wouldn't be able to stand the female, never did like other women encroaching on her territory. So she decided on the father, besides he could do much more delicious things to the Slayer than the mother.

Unfortunately her timetable was sped up when that Phillip Evans crashed into the Parker's car. Darla was lucky she and a minion been following the Parker's for a few nights than and she managed to have her minion turn the father before he died and wouldn't be able to bring him back. That would have screwed up her plan, besides Fred and the boy, the Slayer has no other relatives at least none that will relish in torturing her before killing her.

Jeff Parker wasn't handsome like Angelus but he did have darkness in him, he had a past he never told his beloved family. She dug into his past, seems Jeffrey Parker had a bit of a mean streak…of course by her standards it was small time stuff, however human standards it was major.

While working for his uncle when he was fifteen to twenty-five he was his uncle's bodyguard. Now that is the nice term for it, but basically Jeff did Uncle Pete's dirty work, murder, beatings, robberies, even one count of rape. Although the rape allegation was found to be false everything else is true.

After Jeff killed the first girl he loved by driving drunk and then meeting Nancy he decided to give up that life, his uncle as a favor to him made sure all the records of his transgressions were erased and destroyed. Later he had Liz and according to many people in town doted on her like she was a princess, never rose a voice or hand to her, she had him wrapped around her little finger.

Snorting Darla continues to watch as Spike, her Great-grandchilde, catches and comforts the meddlesome little bitch. Angelus, her boy strokes her hair whispering sweet assurances in her ear, Spike carries her to the car and sets her in the backseat next to her son. Darla is surprised that Angelus and Spike didn't feel that Jeffrey was apart of their family line, being around humans must have weakened their senses.

Shaking her head Darla turns away as the Desoto drives from the cemetery. She'd have to rethink her game plan if she wanted to kill that Slayer. That little boy looks to be a weakness for the Slayer, maybe he can be her way to breaking and killing her.

Slayers have ruined her family for the last time. Quickly Darla disappears into the night returning to her fancy hotel room in the center of the town, it wasn't like the shit-holes on the outskirts, this hotel is the kind of class she's used too. She'll get that little bitch of a Slayer if it's the last thing she does.

_Crashdown Café_

With ease Spike maneuvers his DeSoto into the parking lot in back stopping the car next to Liz's new PT Cruiser. He and Angel the entire way back have been communicating through the mind, vampires in the same line can do that easily, next to hunting it was the first thing that is learnt.

The Poofter and he agreed they'd be going back the cemetery after Liz feel asleep, they had to make sure Nancy isn't a vampire as well. If she is then he and Angel will take care of it, Liz shouldn't have to stake her father as well as her mother.

Spike glances in the rearview mirror and stares at Liz stroking Lucas's dark blonde locks gazing longingly at their son. The thoughts written across her face could have very well been his own thoughts, she wished so much more for Lucas then vampires and demons lurking around every corner. Wanted their family to be normal and ignorant of the things that go bump in the night.

"Ready to go inside Pet?" He whispers so not to wake Lucas from his deep sleep.

Liz doesn't say a word she only nods. Slowly she leaves the back seat and leans back in unhooking Lucas's car-seat and lifting him gently out from the car. "Spike?" She mumbles, if it isn't for his supernatural senses he would have missed it.

"Yes luv?" Ready and willing to take care of any need she may have.

"If she's a vampire," tears rise and begin to cloud her vision. "If she's a vampire, please don't tell me. I don't wanna know." Liz wasn't sure she'd be able to take it if her mother is a vampire as well. She may not have heard what Angel and Spike were 'talking' about but she knows that if it were anybody but her parents she would be back at the cemetery checking on the other body.

Spike smiles sadly, "Not to worry, if she is, you'll never know." It's a complete lie, Liz knows that, so does he, she'll know because he'll tell her if her mother isn't a vampire. And at some point when her grief lessens she'll be able to feel her mother if she is the undead.

Carrying Lucas in her arms she, Spike, and the rest of her friends, Alex and Serena included, all walk into the Crashdown. Standing in the middle of the room dancing to a tune only she can hear in her crazy head is a vampiress in a black and red simple yet expensive gown. As if sensing instead of hearing the audience she stops and turns towards the group.

"Dru?"

_Max Evans Home_

"Ok, what the hell was all that." Maria shouts to the room still unnerved over what occurred in the cemetery that night. Never in all her time with the aliens has she seen anything like the dead suddenly breaking out their coffin and then exploding into dust because their daughter sticks something into their chest.

Max and Michael shrug their shoulders, "And you think any of us would know Maria?" Michael questions; this isn't exactly their area of expertise either. Then again everything since Liz has come back is uncharted territory.

"This is too weird even for me." Tess takes a seat next to Kyle rubbing her forehead. Why is it that every time the entire group is together she starts to get the beginnings of a headache? Kyle taking pity on her massages her sore shoulders relieving some of the tension.

"And what about those two guys, the ones whose faces changed. That—I don't even know what that was but I do not want to get into a fight with them." Kyle speaks up. With those two guys guarding Liz like they were tonight would he get a chance to talk to her about his and her son before she left for LA. She did say that she'd talk to him but after tonight that might not happen.

"Listen I have a fairly easy solution." Isabel speaks from her place on the recliner. "Why don't we wait till tomorrow to ask Liz what the Hell is going on? It's a lot better than sitting here coming up with scenario's." She snaps her gaze to Max. "And don't try to lie Max you know that's exactly what we would be doing, lets all go home, get some rest and deal with this tomorrow." She stands up and along with Michael leaves Max's home.

Tess nods, "Iz is right. I'm tired and I'm going to bed. See you two tomorrow." Darren, Maria's wife—husband, is off in New York. He mentioned something about a deal, yea right, it's clear to anyone who met the man that he's gay. Darren and Maria never have sex, this is according to Maria, and he's always gone on trips.

Now those aren't red flags for being gay however the fact Darren knows more about fashion then any normal woman is suspicious. Not to mention he comments on guys bodies like they are ambrosia and he's a Greek God ready to devour them. Tess is sure Maria knows but is only using him to get a record deal, which if he hasn't come through by now, he's not going to. She and Kyle climb into the car and begin their drive home. Tomorrow is sure to be interesting.

TBC


	18. Chapter 17

A.N. Sorry for the delay in finishing this chapter. I've been seriously ignoring this fic for a couple of my other ones; every once in a while I'd write a paragraph or two then move onto something else. Hopefully the next one won't take as long to get out. The next few chapters (I'm thinking at least the next two or three) will be past parts. Enjoy.

**Chapter 17**

_April 30, 2000_

Faith stares at the demons cramming into the entryway. Why didn't she sense them, how did a Potential sense them before she did? She's not able to dwell on those questions for very long before the demons attack with a fury.

Instead of fighting along side Buffy, Angelus, Liz, and the others; the Potentials, except for Kennedy and Amanda, cower in a corner with fright. Faith knows right then that none of them will become the next Slayer, even if you're only a Potential that deep instinct of 'kill demons' that becomes stronger when one is the Slayer, will come forth in a situation like this.

Giles, Willow, and Xander join Faith and Kennedy at the front line. Amanda and Dawn stay behind with Cordy, Lorne and Fred ready to get any stragglers. Buffy and Angelus easily take out three in the first minute of combat. Liz is still fighting with her first one but causing significant damage so soon she can kill it with ease.

Liz ducks under a beefy, armor encased arm and raises her right knee up into the demon's gut. The scaly, lizard looking demon doubles over and she delivers a punch and another right knee to its long nose. It falls down onto his back allowing Liz enough time to raise her hand and use her alien powers to blow it up. Instantly she regrets it as her head pounds from the energy it took to achieve that blast.

Wesley seeing Liz waver decapitates the demon he's sparring with and rushes to her side gripping her around her waist. "Are you alright Liz?"

She nods slowly. "I'll be fine in a minute. Go help the others don't worry about me." Liz pushes him away gently and back into the action. Reluctantly he leaves her side and continues the fight while she carefully walks over to Cordy and the others. "Ow I shouldn't have done that." She moans good-naturedly.

"Liz what happened?" Cordelia asks concerned for the brunette.

"Remember those fun powers I've been working on. Well that was one of them—unfortunately I put too much humph in and it hurts my head." Liz shrugs and tilts her head the movement immediately sends a sharp pain to her temples, her mouth falls open in pain. "Ow again."

Cordelia turns to face Liz and doesn't see the demon coming straight for them. "Look out!" Fred yells toward her cousin and friend. The demon sees her rushing toward him and swings his arm out throwing her onto the stairs behind her.

"Fred!" Liz yells. She hurries passed Cordy and resumes fighting. A big thick fist smashes against her face; oh she's going to have a bruise in the morning. The sword the demon carried slices through the air arcing down toward her, diving to the floor she all but misses getting her head cut off but the sword still manages to knick her.

Immediately electricity travels from her open wound, it doesn't hurt all she feels is warm and powerful, all the energy that bubbles beneath comes shooting out passing through the sword still hovering above her arm and into the demon frying him from the inside out. "That's new." She grabs a hold of her arm instinctually and the green lightning flowing stops.

Buffy, Angelus, and the others fighting make quick work of the remaining demons, during the last couple minutes of the fight Lorne helped her up while Cordelia went to check on Fred. She'd have a major bruise on her back and chest but other than that she'd be fine.

Giles could not believe what he saw come out of that tiny girl. Electricity, massive bolts of electricity shooting from her wound and into the demon effectively killing it. He's never heard of this happening before with Potentials. It's all very peculiar. He must sit down and speak with her, immediately.

"Whoa Giles. You are not going near her." Buffy knew what he thought, what he wants to do. No way is so subjecting Liz to that kind of scrutiny. She's been around Giles long enough to have a fairly good idea of what questions he's going to ask and Liz doesn't need that right now.

Kennedy shakes her head. This is unbelievable, first the girl refused to acknowledge her as a leader, a future Slayer, and now she can do weird things. Weirder than Slayer type things. She sees the stares of awe coming from the other lesser Potentials. This girl will be made to think she's the leader, Kennedy can not allow that.

"Ooo, so she has a funky freaky power. It doesn't mean she can fight hand to hand like I can, doesn't mean she's any more special than me and the other Potentials." Kennedy sneers. Ha, that'll make her think twice about showing her up—wait no try to show her up. She's still the leader of the Potentials. Nothing can take that from her.

Liz only raises an eyebrow. She doesn't get it, Kennedy thinks she's the big girl on campus. Maybe more so now that Buffy split. Catty girls at school who thought they were the big fish in the pond always tried to play themselves up like they were important when they were nothing but bait.

"Do you have a problem with people who are strong than you?" She questions. There isn't a doubt in her mind that if she and Ms. High and Mighty threw down she, Liz, would be the one to win.

"You're not stronger than me." Kennedy argues.

Liz doesn't lose the smile on her face as she nods her head. "Yes I am." See no doubt at all. It's always the ones who talk a big game that can't step up to the plate and deliver.

"Really you think you are? Than prove it. Fight me. Put your money where your mouth is freak."

"Did I push a nerve?" Off to the side Angelus lets out a joyous yet evil laugh. Liz is doing this to piss her off. He's impressed.

Kennedy shoves her jean jacket off, tosses it on the floor and puts her hands up in a fighting position. "Come on. Let's see what you got."

"Kennedy!" Giles reprimands. "This is neither the time nor place. Not to mention do you not care that this woman is pregnant? She said so herself, show some smarts. She's playing you so you'll be the first to strike and you don't even notice all that matters is shutting her mouth."

"G—"

"No." He cuts her off. "You have disregarded all your training. Now get back with the other girls."

"Giles, wonderful job in taking charge." Angelus claps and taunts. "To bad you didn't do that earlier. It's obvious those girls need a few time-outs to get it through their heads that they don't matter."

As Kennedy slinks back to the other Potentials Liz takes great pleasure in watching her pout that the Watcher had yelled at her. God one of the first lessons Buffy and Angel taught her was to not let someone provoke her into attacking. That'd only weaken her and probably get her ass killed.

Although if she wasn't pregnant she can't say that she would listen any better than Kennedy had to the teachings. Because of her baby boy she's determined to stay alive and keep him away from harm. Listening to the experts is one of the best ways to do that. They've been doing this for years while she's been training for only month; it's far more likely that they know what to do.

Buffy, staying close to Angelus, looks at Giles. "Say what you want to me Giles but then you and everyone else in the Sunnydale group need to leave." It felt good being able to kick them out for a change.

TBC


	19. Chapter 18

A.N. So sorry this one keeps taking forever to get a chapter out. Other fics have been grabbing my attention including another Liz/Spike, so in a way I've been getting my Spike fix and ignored this one. I've been a Bad Dez. So without further ado here is the next chapter.

**Chapter 18**

_April 30, 2000_

Fred moved Liz around behind the lobby desk, pulled out the first aid kit, and began to clean her cousin's wound. At her hiss Fred winced, "Sorry. It's looks pretty deep."

"Great. How come Potentials don't get all those nifty healing abilities or handy fighting skills? Don't—whoever made Potentials possible want them to stick around long enough to maybe be called?" Liz grumbled.

"You're probably going to need stitches." She reluctantly told her.

"Excuse me?" Irrational fear spiked through her. "Stitches…that means a needle. You know Fred it'll be fine, really. May have a scar but nothing I can't live with."

"This is classic, you're afraid of a little itty bitty needle?" Kennedy mocked. "Toughen up."

Instead of retaliating Liz rose an annoyed eyebrow and turned back to Fred. "Can't we put a bandage over it or wrap it in something and call it a day?" Everyone was entitled to one irrational fear, needles were hers. It didn't bother her if she saw someone getting a shot or blood drawn but when the sharp, metallic, sliver of death was looming near her un-poked skin it made a normally even keel teenager go off the handle.

"Well, we could. But than it raises the risk of getting an infection of some kind. Which then could cause these erupting puss mountains to show up on your arm. Eventually the infection would spread to the rest of your arm and if you didn't want it to go through the rest of your body eating away at other parts of you we'd have to amputate the arm at the shoulder." Fred rambled on.

"I could live with that." Liz told her. She's not saying it wouldn't be hard making it work with only one arm but she could do it. And amputation wasn't a for sure thing—

"Come on Liz, you can hold Wesley's hand and he could talk to you making you forget all about that—thing." Cordelia didn't even want to say the word needle if Liz was freaking out over the thought of it.

Wesley nodded his approval of the idea and took the spot next to Liz, "Alright. Let's get this over with. When I look back on this I want it to be a blip on the radar screen of pain." She backed down and allowed Fred to lead her a chair where she began to get to work on fixing her arm.

However instead of Wesley talking to her Giles was the one that began to distract her. "Ms. Parker—"

"Just Liz alright. No Miss, Ms, or Mrs. just Liz." Might as well get that straight right from the get go. "Second, don't be asking about what you saw come out of me. I'm not going to tell you, it's none of your business, and the major reason for that is that you don't know me so you get nada from me."

"Now see here—" He wouldn't tolerate that kind of attitude being thrown at him.

"No I won't. From what I've seen you and every single one of your group are less than trustworthy. You kick out Buffy who's been there every step of the way saving your pathetic asses, not only that you're supposed to be her Watcher, what kind of Watcher worth his salt goes against his Slayer?" Liz shot back at him. The needle sliding in and out of her injured arm fell into the background, she was getting angry and that seemed to lessen the pain.

The guy named with shaggy brown hair and eye-patch stepped up coming to the Watchers defense. "Who are you to judge us, you haven't been in Sunnydale for seven years. For that matter neither has Buffy she's skipped town not once but twice."

"Wow. Twice? In seven years? Wow, that is unbelievable. How dare she." She sarcastically snorted. "Well I know that one was this time, I'm sure the other time was when she sent her soulmate to hell." She displayed the knowledge she had on Buffy's life—all from what she and Angel told her.

"She left us unprotected for three months while she went God knows where." He fought with her.

"From what I heard she would have left you that summer anyway. Hadn't she gone to LA to spend her previous summer vacation with her father? What made you assume that she wouldn't do it that year?" She pointed out. "If she went to stay with her father that summer you'd all be in the same boat—only difference is that you'd know where she was."

Not having a comeback Xander tried a different tactic. "And what gives you the right to judge us or defend Buffy?"

"The fact that you're here bothering us gives me plenty of right."

Kennedy couldn't sit back and let Xander get all the licks in. "Bet you're only saying this so you can continue to be Buffy's best friend. That'd be the only reason someone sticks up for her. She was getting us killed."

Angelus growled but Buffy held him back. Didn't seem like Liz needed any help in saying her piece. "Jesus not you again. Can't you sit and be silent for five minutes?" She smirked at Angelus's chuckle. "And no, Buffy isn't my best friend, I like her and she's a friend but my best one—nope. My best friends consist of two people and as much as I like Buffy she's not one of them."

Kennedy shrugged not caring about her statement. "Buffy was still getting us killed. She led us into a trap which cost Xander his eye and Potentials their lives."

"How is Buffy being led into a trap her fault?" Fred spoke up from dressing the stitched wound. "It's a statistical probability that at some point she'd be led into a trap. If she had been the only one to go in and gotten killed would you blame her then? And this is a battle unfortunately people, doesn't matter whom, are going to be killed. It's kind of stupid to think some people won't be."

"Well said Fred." Wesley praised enjoying the blush creeping up on her face.

Gunn tired of all the bickering back and forth said to the group. "Why don't you all tell us why you're here, than you can leave and we can get back to our lives." He saw Liz's quick glance toward him, on the subject of Liz he was at war with himself. One side of him missed her terribly but the other side was glad he wasn't dating her anymore.

Being friends with a vampire was one thing, working for a vampire was one thing, but dating one would be out of the question for him. Unfortunately that meant aliens too. Aliens, demons, vampires, and freaks of nature—all things he could be friends with or work for but not date, never date.

Giles took his glasses off and cleaned them, a habit he had gotten into years before so he wouldn't be able to see what was happening around him. Many a times it was because he didn't want to see one of his charges making out with someone. He could live without those visual images. Finally he slipped them back in front of his eyes.

"Earlier today I ran across a prophecy." A common occurrence in his line of work. "And the basic fundamental fact of it is that the only person who can defeat the First is the one that guards the Scythe. Apparently Caleb had the Scythe but now it's gone, we don't know who has anymore."

"So basically you need me to find it?" Buffy questioned.

"Yes, precisely. Unfortunately we only have a location—LA, but Willow's locator spell told us nothing else."

Buffy nodded, now for the real kicker. This little piece of information was likely to send some of the group into a tizzy. "Well your search is over. See I know where the Scythe is."

"Wonderful, where is it?" Giles could hardly believe it was that easy.

"With me. I'm the guardian you're looking for Giles. What do you know—I was right. Should have listened to me when I said that there was something at the vineyard. Don't you feel stupid?"

TBC

Coming Up:

Chapter 19: Past Part: Will Buffy go back to Sunnydale to help the others or leave them out to dry. And when Liz needs a babysitter who does Buffy suggest?

Chapter 20: Present/Future Part: What will the others do about Dru? Is she there to torment them? Will Liz be able to fight another vampire, one that's much stronger than her father?

Tune in next time—same vamp time—same vamp channel.


	20. Chapter 19

A.N. Hi everyone, thanks for the fabulous feedback. Love that you're enjoying it and I hope you continue to enjoy it because I enjoy writing it.

With that being said this chapter poured out Wednesday night, mainly because of Angelus who refused to stay quiet any longer. Plus museAngelus promised me some fun filled dreams if I gave into his request…how could a girl say no?

Also my wrist is still demanding I take it easy but with visions/promises of a naked Angelus dancing in my head I decided I could live with the small pain. That's what they made Advil for right? Love you all, enjoy.

Previously…

_Buffy nodded, now for the real kicker. This little piece of information is likely to send some of the group into a tizzy. "Well your search is over. See I know where the Scythe is." _

"_Wonderful, where is it?" Giles could hardly believe it was that easy. _

"_With me. I'm the guardian you're looking for Giles. What do you know—I was right. Should have listened to me when I said that there was something at the vineyard. Don't you feel stupid?"_

**Chapter 19 **

_April 30, 2000_

"That's gotta sting Rupert." The time for Angelus to be silent was over. "Every single one of you whining, it's like nails digging into my ears. Believe me that hurts boys and girls…I should know."

"Why?" Amanda, a Potential, asked.

"Why?" Angelus's expression became one of sympathy—mock sympathy. "Because I did it to a weak, slow, whiny little Potential." The words of torture sail out of his mouth like liquid velvet, coating the occupants in warmth and fear.

Amanda and many of the other girls shrank back trying to get as far away from him as possible. They'd never encountered a creature so sinister, even the First didn't frighten them as much.

Buffy's heart raced, he could hear it, and smelled her arousal. His Mate wasn't scared at all; there was no one like his girl. What person Slayer or otherwise would still be hot for the homicidal boyfriend, not many. He turned to Rupert, that chain saw was looking mighty tempting…Angel even had one in the basement last he checked. His fingers tingled to torture the treacherous Watcher.

"The girl looked a little like you…actually a lot like you." Angelus glided a step closer revealing in the skittish jump back. "She screamed. A beautiful lullaby, such music to my ears."

Liz sent a smirk to Buffy who hadn't taken her eyes from his back, she had a hungry stare and it was glued right on Angelus's firm behind. She watched as she glimpsed up his back and licked her lips taking in the muscles flexing deliciously. And it was delicious; no man who walked like that could be described as anything but deliciousness.

Delicious, she loved that word. If she spoke it aloud the sound would roll of her tongue inducing shivers of delight. Oh another 'D' word, there were so many that could describe the male specimen in front of them. Decadent, damning, dangerous. She could understand why Buffy was so infatuated, she didn't even want to be with Angelus and she was becoming infatuated.

"That's enough Angelus, you should stop running your mouth it's liable to get you dusted." Faith had it up to the ceiling with his taunting and condescending attitude.

"And the number two speaks up. Took you long enough." He whispered. "Did you really think that you could ever be Buffy? You're not even fit to walk in her shadow let alone in her shoes. You are too tainted, too evil to be her."

"Would have thought a vamp like you would find that attractive." Faith smirked a part of her excited that the Scourge of Europe had his attention on her now. It had to be a Slayer thing to be turned on by being threatened.

"Oh I do. Just not on you." He turned his back on her and eased back over to Buffy, but if they thought he was done they had another thing coming. "Did you tell them Faith about how you tried to kill Xander? Not that I blame you, he's in need of a good neck snapping." Xander rubbed his neck nervously. "Or how about when you tried to release me from my soulful prison to kill Buffy?"

She fidgeted but held his stare. "I never denied I did those things but I'm different now."

"Really?"

"I've paid for what I did, went to prison for three years, the only reason I'm out is to help Buffy. Then I'm going right back." She defended herself; Angelus would not make her feel guilty for what she'd already dealt with.

"Three years? You think that's paying for killing people, attempting to kill people, and trying to get your Mayor boss guy to eat the senior class of Sunnydale High and ascend to be a big snake thing?" Liz snorted in disbelief. "Please, that is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard."

"It makes no sense, why is Faith forgiven for all her crimes but Buffy accidentally got led into a trap and you're all down her throat like she personally set out to get you killed?" Cordy snapped at the group at large. "I'd never been so happy to be out of that dysfunctional group." She huffed.

A few minutes more of taunting and throwing accusations back and forth the main players of the two groups came to a sort of agreement. Buffy would go to Sunnydale with Angelus deal with Caleb and the First, then when that was done come back to LA and take care of the Beast with the AI team.

There were more than a few objections to Angelus coming with them. They wanted Angel's soul to be put back into his body and than Angel could help fight Caleb and the First. But Buffy knocked down that suggestion immediately. Sunnydale needed her and the Scoobies were going to do it her way, she was non-negotiable on that issue.

Liz wouldn't fight in either battle. As much as she wanted to be able to help her friends she couldn't, not with her baby boy growing inside her. No harm would come to her child, she'd make damn sure of it.

Kennedy had some 'words of wisdom' to say about her bowing out of the battles. "Why am I not surprised you're backing out. You talk a big game but when it's time you won't step up to the plate."

Liz hadn't gotten a chance to set her straight when Gunn grabbed a hold of the abrasive Potentials arm turning her around to face him. "You will not speak to her that way. She has her reasons for backing out of these fights and I don't blame her. One wrong move or well placed kick to her back or stomach could make her lose the baby she's carrying."

His ex-girlfriend gave him a look of gratitude and confusion. She appreciated what he was doing but didn't know why he was doing it. As her mother always said, 'never look a gift horse in the mouth'.

"The only reason she helped us here, tonight, was because she had no choice. I'm only giving you one warning. You continue to bother Liz and I will throw you out myself." Gunn hissed pushing her back away from him.

Instead of waiting to see what Kennedy do he opened the weapons cabinet and grabbed his favorite axe. "Don't know about everyone else but I'm ready to go kick ass."

"Yes, indeed. Let's go immediately." Giles nodded his agreement.

"Not so fast." Cordelia halted everyone with the authority in her tone. "What about the rest of us who are staying here? Buffy, Angel, Gunn, and Wesley are going to Sunnydale. Now I'm not saying the rest of us can't handle ourselves but none of us are Slayer or Vampire strong. What's going to happen if this Beast thing comes back looking for something to snack on? Liz has her electric thing, Fred has her brains, I have some demon in me—" she rose her hand shutting the curious questions off, "—don't ask, none of your business. And what can Lorne do? Sing them to death?"

"If it'll make you feel better we can call Spike." Buffy told her.

"Spike? Are you kidding me? Billy Idol will probably want to kill us and take Liz as a Drusilla knock-off." Cordy snorted.

Liz leaned forward in her chair. "Who's Spike?"

TBC


	21. Chapter 20

_Previously…_

_Carrying Lucas in her arms she, Spike, and the rest of her friends, Alex and Serena included, all walk into the Crashdown. Standing in the middle of the room dancing to a tune only she can hear in her crazy head is a vampiress in a black and red simple yet expensive gown. As if sensing instead of hearing the audience she stops and turns towards the group. _

"_Dru?"_

**Chapter 20**

_February 18, 2005; 12:14 a.m._

**Crashdown**

"Dru?" Liz stared at the crazy vampire in front of her. Tears rose inside her eyes and her lip quivered at the emotion bubbling so close to the surface. The Slayer gently deposited Lucas into Spike's arms and faced the woman in front of her.

Drusilla glided up to the brunette slayer and held her arms open knowing what her family needed. "Come sister dear. You've been holding on to it for too long." She heard Elizabeth's pain from the jungles of Brazil. Nothing could keep her from the ray of sunshine hidden by the violent storm of powerful emotions.

Spike took in the sight of his Dark Princess embracing his Lightning Goddess. Even after two years he couldn't get used to them being friends. He'd always care for Dru, she's his Sire and he was with her for over a hundred years but even she couldn't compare to Liz in his eyes.

Lights from passing cars play tag on the walls of the darkened restaurant, every pain, every heartache came pouring out in the arms of a cold-blooded friend. Drusilla killed without remorse didn't matter if it was a child, old woman, or young man. She was as heartless as one could be but she had a soft spot for Spike, Liz, and Luke.

"There, there dear heart. Let Sister take care of you." She stroked a cold hand down her hair. Liz gripped her tightly thanking the Gods above that her friend was there.

A week of emotion that she only let out with Spike flooded to the surface and she could do nothing but let it flow out. A year after she and Spike were married she was on a hunt, searching for the next vamp to add to her total for the night.

She'd been following a newly made vampire; she felt how new he was in her gut, freshly risen and looking for it's first meal as a creature of the night. Then everything went black, she woke up in a nicely furnished dining room but she wasn't alone. Next to her was a woman she had never met, tied up the same as her. The woman was Drusilla.

Another woman with long blonde hair was at her other side, tied as well, but refused to shut up. She found out that her name was Harmony Kendell. Turned out the whole reason the three of them were there was because they had been or were involved with Spike.

Drusilla had been there for a week with only the bare minimum of blood to keep her awake and somewhat aware. While she and Harmony had been recently captured.

When she hadn't returned from patrolling Spike and the others went searching for her. After a few days of researching the AI team figured out who had them and where they were keeping them. The creature that had them was a vampire and they hated Spike with a vengeance.

According to what she was told while in the vampires home, Spike took his lover, used her for a few weeks, then discarded her giving her back to him and Drusilla helped her Childe in all that. He'd been waiting for decades to pay his Sire back, didn't matter that the woman had wanted to be with Spike and Dru.

After she was rescued Spike told her what he thought she'd be comfortable with, she knew he had been with many other women in his undead life. But Spike told her that the woman propositioned him and Dru first wanting to be their lover. It was sort of a test run in a way and neither Spike nor Dru would have wanted her as a full time companion.

It was during that time though that she and Drusilla bonded and became friends. When the vampire that held them would leave to go hunting she'd cut herself on a piece of glass and feed her. She could really explain why she did it but she couldn't let Dru starve. It made no sense because she didn't try to feed Harmony.

Now Slayer and vampire were bonded in a way that transcended conventional methods. Since then they had been friends, Dru returned to Brazil but occasionally came back to see her, Spike, and Luke. While they were friends one thing she wouldn't allow would be Spike and Drusilla to be intimately involved. Spike told her that that point of his life was over with his Sire. He'd always be bound to her but he was with her, Liz, for eternity now.

"Come deary, let's get you upstairs." Slowly she guided Liz toward the back and up the stairs to her parent's home and into her bedroom leaving the others downstairs.

Fred, although knew of the close relationship between Slayer and vampire, couldn't help but worry when Drusilla took Liz into the apartment alone. She never completely trusted the crazy creature and never would.

Spike on the other hand smiled and sat down in the booth with Lucas, keeping him close and rubbing his back letting his son know even in sleep that everything was okay. Whispered to him that his Mommy would be back down in a little bit and she'd tuck him into bed and when he woke up Grandma Dru would be there to play with him.

Angel sat at the bar talking to Buffy on the phone. He hadn't seen her for a couple days and couldn't wait for her flight to come in tomorrow night. Giles didn't approve of her returning to the States so soon but Buffy told him that Willow would be in town by the time her flight took off from England. He wouldn't be alone for long, besides there were a few Potentials who despite their non-Slayer status were still training, they would be there to help him in case of an emergency.

When Willow did the spell to make all the Potentials into Slayers they didn't know it would be only temporary and eventually the spell would wear off and go to whom it was meant to. All Potentials got a taste of what it was like to be super-strong and powerful; they wanted that back and were going to practice and train till they were called.

Cordelia and Gunn were sitting in another booth holding hands. Over the last five years Gunn had learned to love a woman who had demon abilities. He never thought he and Cordy would be dating, for many reasons but the main one because he didn't think he could handle having a supernatural being as a girlfriend. As he got closer to Cordelia that changed and he had been able to look pass the demon and see the woman he had grown to love.

Wesley watched the room taking in everyone and thinking on what would happen tomorrow. So many problems had arisen and he didn't think Liz would be able to handle much more. Tomorrow morning would prove interesting, he didn't think the Roswell group would let that evenings events go unexplained for long.

TBC


	22. Chapter 21

A.N. Sorry for the long wait. It sucks when a muse goes into hiding. I've managed to coax her out though. Lately I've been watching many episodes that feature Spike and/or Angelus. Gotta love those two bad vamps. Also just a reminder, Buffy and Spike have never slept together, they have a brother/sister type relationship.

_Previously: _

"_If it'll make you feel better we can call Spike." Buffy told her. _

"_Spike? Are you kidding me? Billy Idol will probably want to kill us and take Liz as a Drusilla knock-off." Cordy snorted._

_Liz leaned forward in her chair. "Who's Spike?"_

**Chapter 21 **

_May 1, 2000_

It was a little after midnight when Buffy left with everyone to save Sunnydale and essentially the world. Before leaving Buffy went behind the front desk in the lobby and called Spike, the guy that she had suggested protect them while the other superhuman people were gone.

While Buffy did that, Cordelia told her little about Spike saying she didn't know him all that well except that he was evil and killed many people in his long unlife. Not only that he tried to mainly kill Buffy though. While he didn't actively try to kill the rest of the original Scooby gang as much as he could have that didn't mean if he caught one of them that they wouldn't be his next meal.

Then Cordy told her about Drusilla, Spike's sire and absolute love of his undead existence. He had kidnapped Willow and by default Xander to do a spell for him to get Drusilla back who had left him for a Chaos demon. Which in turn took Cordelia to one of the darkest moments in her life.

Since they weren't extremely close Cordelia left out the details of why it was the darkest moment in her life but with the glare she sent to Xander she had a feeling it had something to do with him. At that point in the story Buffy said that he had changed, he still didn't have a soul but he wasn't a bad guy anymore…even if he would deny it.

Buffy gave Liz a quick overview herself of Spike, since she had never mentioned Spike in her explanations about Slayers and vampires and destiny. At the time the name of the vampire that had helped her hadn't been important to the story she told.

Basically yes, Spike was a killer, he'd killed two Slayers in his past but over the last three years he'd changed a little and became a valuable member of the team and her friend. He's one of the only people she would trust to watch over the others staying there.

Angelus couldn't stop laughing at his Grand Childe's change. There always was a soft side to the bleached wonder. Granted he could rip the throat out of tiny puppy in a heartbeat without a drop of remorse but he still liked to write poetry about bunnies and flowers. It made him sick.

In order to make it to Sunnydale in time the group had to leave right then. Spike wouldn't be in LA for another two hours, an hour and a half if he pushed it, but Buffy didn't think they'd be attack during that window of time.

When Liz questioned why Buffy told her that since they already sent demons to attack it would be unlikely that they would attack so soon after. Especially after getting their asses handed to them. If anything the creatures would wait and regroup for a while before trying again.

Although worried Liz nodded, it made sense but that didn't stop the concern of being unprotected. After the others left, Scoobies and company reluctant that Angelus was going with them, Liz sat on the stairs and stared around her.

Demons everywhere lying on the floor dead. "Do they expect us to clean this up?" She asked the three who were left in the hotel.

"Sure thing Pudding Pop." Lorne sat next to her. "We're not the grand and powerful fighters, we're the cleanup crew."

"That sucks." She grumbled dropping her head in her hands.

Fred picked up a green arm that had been loped off during the fight. "Where are we supposed to put all these—pieces?"

"We have an incinerator in the basement." Cordy said nonchalantly. When she realized no one had spoken she looked at them. "What? Do you know how many bodies we'd have to bury if we didn't have some way to dispose of them?"

Shrugging Liz stood up; her head felt a lot better from using her powers earlier. Within an hour and a half the lobby was cleared of all demon pieces and bodies. Next they'd clean the floor; green demon blood had a way of staining the floor if it wasn't mopped up quickly.

Fred, Cordelia and Lorne got to work on cleaning the blood while Liz went into the kitchen and made them coffee, tea, and for Lorne a sea breeze. He taught her how to make it a few days ago, even since then she'd been his designated drinker maker.

As she boiled the water for her tea her thoughts drifted to her parents. She should really call them tomorrow. Liz hadn't spoken to them in over a week. They'd be worried about her if she didn't let them know how she was soon.

Yesterday she had talked to Alex on the phone. He was doing well; the others however were another story. Alex mentioned that Max and Tess had a pregnancy scare, she had gotten dizzy and passed out and because she and Max had recently slept together that was a logical jump. It however turned out to be something else, some kind of device that incapacitated both Tess and Isabel.

Once they figured out who was behind the attack they took care of it and everything was all right again. Maria and Michael were on the rocks, Alex only had Maria's version which was Michael had been pulling away from her. He had seen them fight on more than one occasion and it was only a matter of time before they broke up for good.

Then Alex had been presumed dead; there had been an accident with his car, when the police got there his car had been engulfed in flames. When the fire had been put out there wasn't anything left and after searching the area Valenti had assumed he had perished in the fire.

Thankfully that wasn't the case. He had been in the car yes, but a woman had pulled him out before the car burned. Her name was Serena. Alex had been nursed back to health and when he woke up he couldn't stop staring at the woman who saved him.

Eventually everything was cleared up with the police and Alex was declared to be alive again. That was when Liz told him that Future Max had said that a woman named Serena would be a friend of hers one day. While it was unlikely it was the same Serena Future Max had been talking about it was quite a coincidence.

Since then she hadn't spoken to Alex, after she called her parents she'd call him again. See how that last week had been treating him.

The teapot whistled and Liz took the boiling water off the stove and poured it in three cups. One was coffee for Cordelia, since she hated tea; the other two were for her and Fred they would be having the tea.

Finishing up she placed the cups and the sea breeze on the tray. Carefully she picked it up and made her down the hall and back to the lobby. "All right coffee, tea, and alcohol are ready." She announced.

"Thank God I'm thirsty." Cordy exclaimed. She dropped the sponge with a loud thump and stood up taking the coffee from the tray. "Thanks Liz."

"Not a problem." She set the tray on the counter of the front desk.

Outside a car door slammed and footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. In a moment the front doors opened and there stood the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. And this was a man, not some boy trying to pretend to be a man, but an honest to God man.

He was decked out in black jeans, a blood red over shirt, black T-shirt, and a long leather coat that almost touched the floor. His hair was bleached blonde and his cheekbones; oh Lordy how hot was that? Liz swallowed hard and stared at him.

"And now we enter a worse place." Cordelia sneered at the guy in the entryway. "Not only are we cleaning demon blood from the floor but now Spike is here."

Spike's attention instantly was drawn to the woman behind Cordelia. Long brown hair, sparkling mahogany eyes, sweet little body, yea, he might enjoy this assignment. "The last place I'd want to be is here, you better watch your mouth or I'll leave you here for the big Beastie to do what he wants with you."

Liz finally found her voice. "You're Spike?" She swallowed hard. Oh boy. She felt a tingling in her gut and it had nothing to do with him being a vampire.

"The one and only Big Bad."

TBC


	23. Chapter 22

A.N. Just a reminder, Spike doesn't have his soul. I thought he was just fine without it.

**Chapter 22**

_May 1, 2000_

Nervously Liz rubbed her stomach trying to relax the butterflies fluttering up a storm. Spike wasn't even in the room anymore and her nerves refused to calm. She sat at the front desk fiddling with her teacup while the others finished wiping up the blood. Fred refused to let her help saying that she had helped moved the bodies now she had to sit and watch.

Currently Spike was outside grabbing his duffel bag from his car. Liz kept casting fidgety glances toward the door he had disappeared through. Any moment now he'd be back inside and in her line of sight.

Sure enough as she downed the rest of her tea Spike came sauntering back in and tossed his duffel on the floor of the lobby. "So where am I staying?"

"How 'bout behind the dumpster?" Cordelia sarcastically suggested.

"No thanks ducks. Wouldn't want to take your sleeping place." Spike shot back.

Fred stood up and took a drink of her cooling tea. "Liz can show you to your room." Not paying attention to her cousin's expression of 'oh God no'.

Lorne however saw her dilemma but instead of helping her like she thought he would he backed up Fred's suggestion. "Yea, that's a great idea sweet pea. Lizzie knows where you'll be staying." He wiped up the last bit of blood in the section he was working in.

Liz glared at Lorne. He saw her reaction to him and now they're making her lead him to his room. Alone. Together. By themselves. Just the two of them. Didn't they see the problem?

"Yea luv, show me the way to my room." Spike smirked. He'd be blind not to notice the inner struggle of the young girl in front of him.

Swallowing hard she nodded. "Okay." She slowly slid off the stool and made her way around the front desk. "Follow me."

"With pleasure." He purred

Liz nodded and nervously smiled before she began her ascent up the stairs. She felt Spike behind her, watching her, roving over her body…or maybe that was wishful thinking. If it was her imagination though then why did it feel like she was being hunted?

Spike breathed in deeply; the little miss wanted him. Desired a taste of the big bad. He followed closely keeping the distance between them to a minimum. Buffy mentioned that the girl was a potential, so there was that added bonus, but he sensed something else underneath the potential slayer. Spike sniffed lightly, something innocent but powerful.

When the duo reached the second floor Liz went left away from Angel and Buffy's rooms. Before the vampire and slayer got back together Angel, according to what she heard since she hadn't been there before then, had only one hotel suite. Granted it was a very large hotel suite, largest one on the second floor but still it was only one.

After Buffy though, Angel expanded the suite. He took over the two hotel rooms on both sides of his room and paid contractors to make the three rooms into one massive hotel room. The room to the right became a huge bathroom that Cordelia remained to be jealous of. On the left was a bedroom, meanwhile Angel's original room was converted to a living room/dining room/kitchen area.

Liz led the way down the hall; Spike could smell who belonged to what room. The brunette…Cordelia if he remembered correctly was the first door on the left. Two other scents, one across the hall from Cordelia and the other right next to her room he couldn't place. Whoever inhabited those rooms either didn't leave a lasting impression or he hadn't met them.

She continued down the hall past Gunn, Wesley, and Fred's rooms. As Liz moved past a group of empty rooms on both the right and left Spike's curiosity peaked. "So where exactly are you leading me now luv?"

"To your room." She explained. It was a little odd to have a cluster of people in one spot near the stairs but then have her room and Spike's be at the end of the hall right before turning the corner into another hallway.

"But the Poofter's Pal's are all down there," he stepped a foot closer to his guide. Once Liz stopped in front of his door he trapped her effectively between the door and his hard body. "While we're three rooms away."

Liz licked her lips and fought the groan threatening to escape. "It's not what you think." She whispered.

Spike bit his lower lip and stared down at her. "Really, that's not what I think." He spoke almost as softly as she had, any louder would have broken the spell. Liz wanted him. The hitch of her breath, the tightening and releasing of her hands, and that sparkle of lust starting back at him.

Liz couldn't take her eyes off the man in front of her. His high cheekbones and slim face gave him a permanent primal expression. Of course Spike's half-lidded lustful gaze down her body could have a little something to do with that.

"The other rooms are smaller." Liz told him. "Besides we were already cleaning this room out." She subtly let out a breath hoping he wouldn't notice her nerves.

In that instant she realized her predicament. On the one hand she needed to open the door to Spike's room so he could settle in. On the other hand though she didn't feel comfortable turning her back to him. He was a vampire, a vampire without a soul.

Although it could be argued that Buffy wouldn't have let Spike come here if he was truly a danger to anyone. Right? She did let Angelus out that evening and took him to Sunnydale with her. Maybe she should have questioned Buffy's judgement on that. She certainly wouldn't have brought up her concerns in front of everyone but she could have taken her aside and asked.

Now there she was with her back against the door with someone Cordelia described as a vicious killer trapping her between his rock hard body and the wooden door. Then again Cordy wouldn't have let her come up here all alone if there was really a huge danger. Or maybe she would…she hated arguing with herself, it accomplished nothing except frustration.

There were two options, one go against every instinct in her body and turn around to open the door or… "Do you mind moving to the side?"

Spike watched her carefully, "Why?" He leaned in a bit, his nose lightly brushing against her hair. She smelled of pears, he softly moaned in the back of his throat.

Liz's breath caught as she breathed in. Could that man be any hotter? God he sniffed her hair and moaned at her and she was ready to throw caution to the wind and beg him to pound her into the door.

Needing distance she gently pushed him away. "Because I need to get back downstairs." She moved away from his confining embrace and stood at his right side. "Here's your key. Enjoy your stay." Liz hurried down the hall but Spike's voice called her back.

"Aren't you going to fluff my pillow?" Spike stared after her biting his lower lip.

With false confidence Liz turned back briefly. "Fluff your own damn pillow." She walked down the rest of the hallway and went downstairs to give Lorne a piece of her mind for making her go up there with Spike alone. In the distance she could hear Spike's gleeful chuckle.

TBC


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

_May 1, 2000_

Liz refused to stomp down the stairs, she wanted to so the others would know she was upset but she refrained from following that thought process. When she reached the lobby floor Lorne smirked at her. Could he read her aura without singing? Liz remembered him telling her once that if the emotions were strong enough he could, but were hers strong enough now?

"So sugar dumpling how'd the alone time go?" Lorne questioned.

"Oh shut up." She grumbled. "Never leave me alone with that man again." She pointed upstairs.

Fred came around the front desk and stood in front of her. "Why? Did he hurt you? Are you all right?" Fred looked her over but couldn't find anything wrong, except Liz's face was a little flushed and her breathing was a bit deeper than normal.

"No—it's just…" Liz glanced around at everyone. Cordelia and Lorne were listening intently. "Can we go talk in the kitchen?" She asked her cousin.

"Of course." Fred laid a hand on her arm, guiding her away from the group. They descended the three steps that led into a hallway and down to the massive kitchen. Once Fred reached the light switch she turned on all the overhead lights. After living in a cave for years and being a slave in Pylea she needed a lot of light to make her feel comfortab le. "So tell me what happened." She leaned against the stainless steel stove.

"Spike's attracted to me." Liz blurted out.

Fred smiled, "Well of course he is, you're a beautiful girl." She saw Liz bite her lip. "Is that a problem?"

"No…yes…I don't know for sure." She rested her chin on her folded arms and hunched over the table.

Fred pushed away from the stove and sat next to her. "Is it because he's a vampire or because you're pregnant?"

"Would it be awful if I said both?" Liz asked. She played with the hem of her buttoned down dark blue shirt. The fabric hung loosely and reached down to her upper thighs when she stood. "What if he's not attracted to me if he finds out I'm pregnant?"

"He probably already knows. So I wouldn't worry about that Liz. If you're worried that he won't be attracted to you then you must like him too…oh this is so great. Although I'd be a little hesitant about that no soul thing. Then again Buffy let Angel out and he doesn't have a soul at the moment…"

"Whoa, whoa. Take a breath Fred. And what do you mean he already knows I'm pregnant?" Liz glanced down at her body. Ok, she wasn't as slim as she usually was, and her belly stuck out a little sometimes brushing the loose fabric of her shirt, but she didn't think it was glaringly obvious. She found that she took after her mother when it came to being pregnant. Mom hadn't begun to show too much until she was in her fifth month and Liz was only five months.

Fred shrugged. "He could probably smell the baby." She explained. "Angel noticed it the second you walked up so I wouldn't be surprised if Spike sniffed it out too."

"Angel noticed? That's kind of creepy." Liz rubbed her stomach gently feeling her stomach flutter. "But then why would Spike be moaning on me and sniffing my hair?" At Fred's expression she realized how much she said. "Forget I said that last part would you?"

"You two were only up there for five minutes. Wow, Spike works fast." Fred commented.

Liz opened her eyes widely, a thought flashed through her mind. "Maybe he's working fast so he can screw me before my pregnancy becomes really pronounced and then he just casts me aside like—like—something not good."

Fred nodded quickly. "That's certainly a possibility. I mean he could be one of those guys who think a woman pregnant is ugly…or even lucky to have a shot at someone like him. Or he could just not care and want to have sex with you anyway but like you said cast you aside for someone that has big boobs and blonde hair and not pregnant…your complete opposite."

"Not helpful Fred." Liz pouted. Was Fred right, would she not be attractive to men while pregnant. And would she only attract jerks that want to sleep with her and toss her to the curb? "I want my Daddy." She hit the table with her forehead.

"Sorry." Fred glanced down sad that she made Liz feel worse instead of better. "Hey, maybe you could call your Dad. If that's what'll make you feel better."

"I like that idea." Liz stood up and went to the phone that had been installed in the kitchen and dialed a very familiar number.

~*~*~

Meanwhile upstairs in Spike's room he tossed his duffle bag in the chair next to the window and plopped down on the bed. Nothing could have prepared him for meeting the girl in the lobby. All he wanted to do when he got there was take care of Poofter's friends, get paid, and leave. There was no way he was doing this little babysitting routine without getting some kind of compensation.

Instead he saw the brunette and suddenly the money didn't seem all that important. Oh it was still important enough, he was getting what he deserved and that was final but that didn't mean there hadn't been a new perk added.

The second he was close enough to her as they climbed the steps he could sense the young life growing inside her. That wouldn't dissuade him in the least. Before when he was with Drusilla he'd have captured her so Dru could have a tiny doll to care and play with once the child born.

There was something that about Liz that he couldn't shake. Before he knew she was pregnant he felt the call of her, her siren call sent quivers through his bones and he was beckoned to answer. And when the hint of another life hit his nostrils his demon roared to protect her.

Even now while he was upstairs in his room he could feel the beast inside him demanding he seek her out and watch over her. Kill anyone who dared come near her to harm her. He was man enough to admit that he was love's bitch; he'd get to the point of obsession when he saw something he desperately wanted. Hell he was with Dru for a hundred years but he never had that kind of primal reaction towards her. Not to the extent he was feeling it now.

Angel liked to think that he could separate the man and the demon. Spike on the other hand knew he and his demon were one. William and Spike had merged a long time ago, they were both in agreement when it came to the young brunette, she was his and they'd protect her.

TBC


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24 **

_February 18, 2005 7:15 a.m._

Yawning Liz sluggishly made her way down the stairs to the back room of the Crashdown. She had never in her life felt that drained, even after a round of marathon slayings.

She pushed through the door separating the back room from the dining area. The AI team had left last night an hour or so after she and Drusilla went upstairs. Spike mentioned they went back to the hotel a couple miles away. Liz would have offered to let them stay with her and Spike at the Crashdown but the upstairs apartment wasn't spacious enough for that many guests.

As she neared the double doors she prayed that the newspaper was outside. She needed to start the day off with some comic strips. Normally she went straight to the obituary page to look at any recent deaths with neck wound injuries or other unexplainable killings. Today would be different though, the last thing she was looking at was the obit page.

Liz gripped the coffee mug in her hand that was filled with decaffeinated tea and unlocked the Crashdown doors. What she wouldn't do for a real cup of coffee right then, unfortunately her doctor back in LA told her to cut down on the caffeine till the baby was born. She pushed open the left door and bent down for the paper lying diagonally on the sidewalk. When she stood back up she saw a shadow to the right of her and tensed up.

The paper crunched under her tightened grip preparing to fight off whoever lurked nearby. Liz twisted her neck toward the shadow. Immediately her muscles relaxed and faced the figure straight on. "What are you doing standing out here so early?"

"We need to talk, thought sooner would be better." Kyle shrugged. The sun shined brightly in his eyes and he had to put his hand up to block the rays.

Liz took a deep breath. The moment she had been worried about was suddenly there. Kyle deserved to know the truth about Lucas. She should have told him sooner than today but she never could gather up the courage to call and let him in on the fact that he had a son.

"Come on in." Liz gestured with the newspaper. "Have a seat at one of the booths."

Kyle walked passed her and stepped inside. He swallowed with difficulty; when Liz and Lucas came into the Crashdown yesterday he figured that Lucas was his son. The little guy had his eyes and looked similar to him when he was that age. All he needed was Liz to confirm it.

"Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Tea?" Liz set the paper down in the booth that Kyle chose.

"No thanks."

"Want some breakfast?" Liz tried again. She hoped for one more second alone to gather her thoughts but it didn't seem like she'd be able too.

Again Kyle shook his head. He didn't want anything to eat or drink. The only thing he was interested in was what he came there for. "Can we just sit and talk. That's all I want right now." While admittedly he was curious about what he saw last night, whether or not the boy Liz had on her hip when she returned to Roswell was his son took priority.

She nodded slowly. "Ok." Liz then slid into the booth and stared at the man across from her. "So—," she paused for a moment, "where do you want to start?"

Kyle stared at his clasped hands. "Guess the obvious." He lifted his head and looked straight at her. "Is Lucas my son?"

Liz took a deep breath and mentally prepared. "Biologically yes he is."

Immediately Kyle narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do you say it like that?"

She coughed nervously but plunged forward. "You are his biological father but that's all you are to him. Spike, my husband, is Luke's father." Kyle clearly didn't like being characterized as only the genetic father but Luke had a dad and that's Spike.

Instead of pouncing on what he didn't like first he focused on something else. "He knows about me? He knows I'm his father?"

"Yes. He's known for a while." She saw his shoulders loosen but there was still tension in the air between them, not that she could blame him for being tense.

"Did he ask or did you tell him without him questioning?" He wasn't being judgmental only curious as to how the conversation came about.

Liz half-smiled and shook her head, "Well I didn't tell him the second he was born or anything but when he could talk more than a few words here and there he asked me why Spike's hair was a different color than his own and mine it was the perfect opening to start telling him about you."

"What did you tell him?"

"Well at first I explained to him that Spike wasn't his biological father and then he asked what that meant. I told him that Mommy was with someone before Spike and that during our time together we made him. And finally he asked if Spike would still be his Daddy." She breathed in deeply before continuing. "I told him that Spike would always be his Dad no matter what. With that he said ok and then went to play with his toys." There hadn't been much to the first time Luke was exposed to the reality of Kyle.

"Is that all?" He was disappointed that those questions were all that were asked.

Liz shook her head negatively. "No, when he got older he had more questions. He wanted to know your name, a little of what you were like. Luke asked once why we weren't together when Tommy, a friend at daycare, had both biological parents living together. That conversation was harder to explain but I think in the end he understood why you weren't in his life and why we weren't a couple."

Kyle snorted rudely. "I bet you didn't paint me or the others in a very good light did you?" He couldn't imagine Liz saying anything good about the people that shunned her after that whole debacle of them sleeping together.

"What makes you think that?" Liz straightened insulted that he would assume anything about what she told her son.

"Oh come on Liz. Not only did Max, Isabel, Michael, Maria, and I ignore you for that last month none of us were particularly quiet when it came to calling you names and insulting you. So not only were we hurting you the entire school got in on it as well so why wouldn't you bad mouth us to Lucas?"

True, it wouldn't be far fetched to believe that she'd tell Luke the cruel taunts that were thrown her way so carelessly. To that day she felt anger about that month of her life but as much as she hated it and wanted to get back at them for everything they put her through she also had a sense of gratitude toward them. Without them acting the way they had she wouldn't have gone to LA and she wouldn't have met Spike. Spike was the second best thing to happen to her; Lucas was the first.

"I didn't. Last thing I want for my son is to have hate in his heart. I know that if I told him about the name calling, about the shunning he'd hate every person that hurt me. He doesn't like people hurting his Mommy. But I won't do that to him, I won't be responsible for putting hate in his heart. I try my best to show by example to take the high road because if I can't do it why the hell should I make Luke?" Liz sipped at her tea while Kyle absorbed everything she said. "Why don't I get you a cup of coffee?"

Kyle didn't say a word, he only nodded at her. Liz stood up and walked around the front counter. As if she hadn't left she got to work on making a pot of coffee. Although Kyle was the only one there now she expected the other members of the 'I Know an Alien Club' to show up eventually. There were too many weird things that happened last night for them to wait long.

TBC


	26. Chapter 25 A & B

**Chapter 25 A**

As soon as she set his coffee down in front of him, along with the sugar and creamer bowls, he grabbed hold of the cup. She watched as he carefully poured three packets of sugar and two creamers in his drink. The two sat in silence for a few moments collecting their thoughts.

Just when Liz thought the silence would get to be too awkward Kyle broke it…however it didn't soothe the nervousness either was feeling at that moment. "Can I see him?" Kyle asked.

Liz hesitated thinking about how Kyle would take this. It wasn't everyday a guy found out he was a father and technically had been for five years. "If he wants to see you then yes."

"Excuse me?" Kyle scoffed rudely. "If he wants too?" She told him he had a son, which of course gave him an overwhelming desire to get to know the boy, and now she said it was a possibility that he would never get to him.

"I know that's not what you want to hear." Liz acknowledged his anger at the situation.

"You damn right it's not what I want to hear. You tell me that Lucas is my son and now you're saying that I can't see him if I want too?"

"It's not about what you want." Liz winced know how mean that sounded. "Kyle my son comes first. If he doesn't want to see you or get to know than I'm not going to make him."

"Why not? You're his mother he should do what you say." Kyle argued back.

Liz raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? When your and Tess's child reaches the age when they can say no to you and defy you, try to use that reasoning, see how well it goes over."

Kyle kept his eyes locked with Liz's. "Please. I want the opportunity to get to know Lucas. He's going to have a half-brother or sister in a few months; shouldn't we all get to know each other? Shouldn't Luke be apart of their lives? Shouldn't we be apart of his?"

Liz pressed her lips together in a thin line. She didn't really like Kyle calling her son by his nickname. It irked her a little bit. "I'm not saying that Lucas shouldn't get to know you or your growing family with Tess. All I'm saying is that I want it to be on his terms. When he wants too. Not when you want too."

As much as he didn't like it, he didn't really have much of a choice. "Fine." He held his coffee cup a little tighter but still didn't drink it. "What happens now?"

"Now…well now I go ask my son if he wants to meet you." Liz stood and started to leave the dining area when Kyle touched her arm and turned her around.

"Wait, now?" Kyle questioned.

"Yes." Liz stared at him. "Are you ok?"

He opened his mouth but closed it. Kyle remained quiet for a few seconds before finally speaking. "What if he says he wants to meet me?"

Liz smirked a little bit amused at Kyle's instant turn around. One minute he wanted to meet Lucas and the next he's completely frightened. She couldn't say she blamed him. "If he wants to meet then you and Lucas can—talk, baby steps." She shrugged not really knowing the proper etiquette for meeting a child that you only recently found out about.

"What if he doesn't like me?"

What could she tell him? Could she lie and tell him that Lucas would absolutely like him? There was a possibility that Luke wouldn't like him. Did she tell Kyle to just be himself and deal with everything as it came up? Miss Manners certainly never tackled the topic.

"I don't know. You're a good man Kyle and Lucas will see that. Other than that I don't really know how this will go." She told him.

Kyle smiled at her. "I guess this is new territory for the both us. Will you be there—if he says yes that is?" Suddenly being alone with his son was the scariest thing he'd ever come up against.

"Yes. I'll be there. I'm won't leave Lucas alone…or you either." She squeezed his forearm in reassurance then left the dining room.

TBC

**Chapter 25 B  
**

Liz left Kyle in the Crashdown and made her way up the back stairs. Although she had no doubt it would be awkward she hoped that Lucas wanted to meet Kyle. He really was a good man and should be able to have the opportunity to meet his biological son. Despite that though she wouldn't force Luke to one decision or another. It'd be his choice and no one else.

When she went into the living room she saw Spike holding Lucas up in the air. "Alright, now, when I make you dive you do what I taught you ok nibblet?"

"Ok Daddy." Lucas nodded enthusiastically. Spike's hands were pressed against his upper chest and under his legs keeping him in the air.

"K, little one, here we go." With a big smile on his chiseled face he lifted Luke up higher then dramatically sent Luke's small body into a dive.

Lucas growled and made his hands into claws. "I'm going to suck your blood. Grrr."

"Ahh, very good. Next time though make your voice a bit deeper and when you growl do it like this." Spike shook his head and transformed into his vampire features, he let out a terrifying growl that if she and Luke didn't know any better would be frightened of.

Instead of fear though it brought joyous laughter to Luke and desire from her. "I leave you two boys alone for a half-hour and you have our son pretending to be a vampire." Liz teased.

"Hello kitten." Spike rumbled out. "Just teaching the boy skills for the future."

"Oh, you plan on him being a vampire?" She raised an eyebrow. "As much as I love you baby, vampire and all that will never happen."

Spike set Luke down and patted him on the back. "I know that luv. The kids going to be well-rounded is all."

"With all the different kinds of people and demons he's around I don't think that will be a problem." She kissed him on the lips when he got within reach. The kiss lasted a little longer than a normal peck would. She needed that brief distraction that being in his arms brought her.

When they pulled back Spike stared closely at her, his face had transformed during their kiss. "What's wrong luv?" He knew her too well. The way she prolonged their embrace, the way she gripped at his shoulders like he was her anchor, something happened while downstairs.

"You're not going to like it." She started. "Kyle's here." She whispered.

"What does that bugger want?" He now knew what bothered her. Not only did she have to deal with the death of her parents and the staking of her father she now had her son's biological father to deal with.

Liz glanced at Lucas, who was playing with his action figures, to make sure he wasn't listening. Luke at one time wanted to have a Dracula figure but Spike instantly put the kibosh on that. He wouldn't allow his son to have anything Dracula related, the vamp was a pansy little loser that was a disgrace to vampires everywhere that owed him money to boot. The little boy was thankfully blissfully unaware of what was happening.

"Pet?' Spike guided her gaze back to his. "What did he want?" He repeated.

Liz swallowed passed the lump in her throat. "Kyle wants to meet him. He wants to get to know him."

Spike's worried expression changed to one of anger. "Well I hope you told him to forget it. He might be Lucas's blood but that doesn't mean he gets any claim to our boy."

"Spike he doesn't want to lay claim." At least she hoped not. She thought she made it quite clear that Spike was Luke's father. "All he mentioned was talking to him. Know who he is."

"He can forget it. He's got another kid on the way with that short blonde bint. He can get his quality time from that package. You and Lucas aren't a part of that deal. Both of you are mine." Spike growled out. No chicken shit human was going to steal his family.

Liz's expression softened. "Spike," she cupped his cheek. "No one and I mean no one could take us away from you. You are Luke's father, not Kyle. You've been with us since the beginning, you held my hand when Luke was born, and you cried and fought by my side when those demons tried to kill him. Nothing could take that away, not Kyle and not the forces of evil. Nothing."

"I'm his bloody father." Spike stated firmly and puffed out his chest, hooked his thumbs through his belt loop. "When are you telling Luke?" Spike asked.

"Now, I just wanted to tell you first." She explained.

"We'll tell him together. But I'm going downstairs too." Spike told her. "Going to make sure that poofter doesn't get any ideas about either of you." He kissed the side of her neck where his bite mark lay subtly staking his claim and together they walked over to Lucas still playing with his action figures.

Liz kneeled down next to her young son and brushed a stray strand of hair out of his eyes. "Baby? Daddy and I would like to talk to you. Ok?"

Lucas rocked back on his heels and stared intently at both parents. "K." He nibbled on his bottom lip, a trait he got from his mother. "Am I in trouble?"

Liz chuckled, putting him at ease. "No baby. You're not in trouble. But we have to talk to you about something important ok?" Lucas nodded but didn't speak; he waited for Liz or Spike to talk first.

"Do you remember when I told you about Kyle?"

Luke nodded. "He's my by blood Dad."

"That's right. Well, Kyle's downstairs and he'd like to meet you." Liz explained.

Lucas stayed quiet for a few seconds shifting his gaze between his parents. "Do I have to meet him?"

Spike shook his head and eagerly spoke up. "Not if you don't want to." In fact he'd be damn happy if Luke chose not to meet Kyle. "Just say the word and I'll go down there right now and tell him that—"

"But," Liz interrupted Spike cutting him off before he could say anything else, "If you want to meet him that's ok too. I told Kyle that it's up to you."

Spike glared at his wife for a moment but then looked at his son again. "You're Mum's right it's up to you." Even though it drove him bloody bonkers.

Luke sat on the couch and thought it over. His parent's watched him with curiosity; one hoped he decided to meet his biological father and the other hoped he'd get to tell Kyle to take a flying leap off the nearest building.

In an instant Lucas stood up. "I want to meet him." Liz smiled and Spike's shoulders slumped a little bit. "But I want you and Daddy to come down with me." At that Spike's lost the bit of disappointed he initially felt. His boy still wanted him. He was still his son's protector. That made him feel damn good.

"Of course we'll come with you." Spike lifted Luke into his arms and kissed his cheek and together as a family they left the apartment and made their way downstairs.

TBC

(I don't know which upcoming chapter will be done/worked on first so whichever one is finished first will be the next one posted)

Next Past Chapter: Spike gets comfortable at the Hyperion and makes it his mission to protect Liz…even from the most mundane things. Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne take notice of the hovering vampire around Liz.

Next Present Chapter: Kyle finally meets his son. Will Luke like or hate him? Spike pokes and prods at Kyle trying to get him annoyed.


	27. Chapter 26

Note: I am so sorry this chapter took forever to get written and posted. It didn't quite come out like I hoped it would but I'm still happy with it. Hope you all are too.

Just a reminder: the sun has not returned in LA yet.

**Chapter 26**

_May 1, 2000 _

A couple hours after she got off the phone with her father Liz stood in the kitchen alone. She had been in her room napping when the baby got a craving for peanuts and chocolate syrup. Thank God it wasn't food that didn't go together. That was never fun. A few days ago she had a major craving for a chocolate bar and sour cream. That was an interesting and gross combination.

She poured some unsalted peanuts into a bowl and grabbed the chocolate syrup. As she drizzled the dark brown liquid over the other half of her craving she caught a glimpse of her face in the shiny chrome surface of the fridge.

Setting the bowl on the counter beside her, Liz leaned in closer and probed at the discolored flesh. "Ow. Dammit." She sighed. The demon that punched her in the face yesterday certainly left his mark. Her cheek was a lovely shade of black, blue, red, and purple.

"Putting something cool on that will help pet."

Liz jumped and whirled around in surprise. "Don't do that. And no." She breathed out a heavy exhale trying to calm her suddenly quick heartbeat. It had everything to do with being surprised and nothing to do with his presence, sure and yesterday she saw a pig fly, she thought to herself.

"One would think you'd be used to creatures sneaking up on you, living with the Captain Forehead and all. And two, 'No'? I didn't even ask a question." Spike smiled at the startled girl.

"You didn't have too. I've only known you for a day but I already know that you were going to suggest that the something cold be you." She grabbed her bowl of food off the counter. Liz wasn't sure why she didn't retreat to her room after getting what she needed from the kitchen but she brushed passed him and sat at the table.

Spike shrugged. "Can't argue with that." He put his thumbs between his belt loops and followed closely behind her.

"Why are you here?" She put a spoonful of peanuts and chocolate into her mouth.

"Thought you were smart? I'm here to keep all of Broody Boy's pal's alive…even when he's not Broody Boy."

Liz swallowed and shook her head negatively. "No, I mean why aren't you patrolling? And 'hey' on the smart comment."

"Patrolling is not what I'm out here for luv." Spike sat down across from her on the small four person table. "The only reason I'm here is to make sure no one dies a horrible bloody death by the big beastie. Why did you think I'd patrol?"

"That's what Angel does. He patrols." Liz found it weird that Spike was on team good but didn't patrol while he was out here.

Spike scoffed. "I am nothing like Angel first of all; second Angel shouldn't be in LA patrolling. He should be with his mate helping her out."

"Huh?" Liz picked up a single peanut with her fingers and put it in her mouth. "Why shouldn't he be patrolling and what's a mate?"

Spike leaned forward clasping his hands together. "Didn't say he shouldn't be patrolling at all, just not in LA. Not while Buffy is fighting for her life on a nightly basis in Sunnydale. She's his mate; every vampire has one being that is their match."

Liz, with the hand that she held a spoon in, halted what he was about to say. "Please don't tell me this is like a soulmate thing." She really didn't need another group of people being all soulmatey around her. She had enough of that with Max and everyone telling her how perfect they were for each other and their souls were one. After a while it got annoying.

Spike chuckled lowly. "Hardly. Soulmate would imply that one or the other in the equation had a soul. Most vampires don't, Angel being the one exception."

"Hmm, ok, so if they're not soulmates then what are they?" Liz took another bite of her food.

"It's not that they necessarily aren't soulmates, it's just that it's not the main thing here. The demons that vampires are, are usually very selfish, they want what they want, they take what they want, and don't give a damn about who gets in their way. Even vampires that they take as companions aren't enough to make a vampire give up what they are after or what they have. Angelus was with Darla for a hundred and fifty years, she sired him, went against her own sire for him, but they weren't mates." Spike decided not to bring up Drusilla in the conversation. He didn't want to bring up an ex-love in front of the young woman in front of him.

Liz felt her mouth getting dry, peanuts and chocolate weren't a good way to keep her mouth hydrated. She had already finished her first glass of milk and decided after a few more bites she'd get another one. "How do you know they weren't mates?" She had to admit this conversation fascinated her.

Spike got up from the table and answered her question. "Many a time Darla would screw Angelus over for her own safety. Once she left him in a burning barn to escape from a group of vampire hunters. If they were mates she wouldn't be able do that. Angel even killed Darla, she was his sire, his former lover and yet he still dusted her. Again, mates can't or would never do that. Although vampires are a selfish lot, when they mate it's primal, protective, and possessive." He pulled out the gallon of milk and another glass pouring the white liquid into it.

Liz was about to ask another question when Spike put the full glass of milk next to her. "Thanks." He sat down next to her again.

Spike shrugged and continued. "Angel and Angelus have always been protective of Buffy. Even when Angelus should have killed Buffy he never could, he'd mess with her friends, killed the teacher that betrayed her, but he could never take that final step and kill her. Angelus had always been able to kill before; it disturbed him that he couldn't kill the one girl he was the immortal enemy of."

The two continued talking about mates and what they can or can't do as Liz finished the last bit of food in her bowl, she set down the spoon, and drank the rest of the milk Spike poured for her, once finished she yawned. As she rubbed her eyes trying to rid herself of the scratchy irritation that came with staying up too late, Spike took her empty bowl and glass and put it in the sink for her.

"You know you didn't have to do that. I'm pregnant not weak." She realized how snippy that sounded and quickly backpedalled. "Not that I'm not thankful, it's just-it's not necessary." Liz yawned again; she had been starting to feel tired a little into her and Spike's conversation but had brushed it off because she enjoyed talking to the bleached blonde Billy Idol vampire.

"You look like you're about to fall asleep right at the table. It's not a big deal." He put his hands on the back of her chair. "Come on. I'll take us up to bed pet."

It was a testament to how tired she was when she didn't give him a look about the 'us to bed' comment. Instead she only nodded and with his help got back to her room. She didn't take much notice of Spike opening her door and gently guiding her toward the bed.

Liz sighed as she sank down into her comfy mattress and delved under the quilt. As always her feet were too hot so she maneuvered them out from under the blanket to lie on top of the quilt.

Spike chuckled at the cute picture she made. "Night luv." He whispered.

"Good night Spike. Thank you for taking me up here." She burrowed further into her pillow.

"It was my pleasure." Although he should leave the room, he didn't. Not until her breathing slowed and she was deep into sleep. Once he was sure he wouldn't wake her up he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I wonder when you'll realize you're my mate?" He brushed a stray hair out of her sleeping face and quietly left the room leaving her to rest.

BtVSRosBtVSRosBtVSRosBtVSRos

Over the next few days it became clear to Cordelia, who although only had a few encounters with Spike that he wasn't acting like his normal killer self. It started with Spike hovering around Liz. Where ever she was Spike was sure to be near by. To be honest it worried her a little and she decided to keep a close eye on the two of them. Even roped Fred into watching them when she couldn't.

A day after Spike had arrived at the hotel Cordelia spotted him pouring a glass of water and immediately giving it to Liz, who moments before had mentioned being thirsty. A couple hours later Liz went to the store because they were out of certain things. Spike went with her, leaving them alone in the hotel and not caring if any of them were maimed and killed while they were gone.

"Wait Spike, let Cordelia or Lorne go with her. The store is only two buildings away and this street has been pretty quiet since the whole no sun, fire in the sky stuff." Fred told Spike when Liz brought up going to the convenience store.

Spike raised an eyebrow, "Yea, like I'm leaving her safety to the beauty queen and the lounge singer."

Liz gave Fred a hug, "We'll be back in ten minutes." She promised.

Cordelia watched them leave; waiting till she was sure Spike was out of ear shot. "Am I the only one who is concerned by his constant vigil over Liz?"

Lorne, who had come in holding a freshly made Sea Breeze, shook his head. "No, that bleached blonde hunk of delicious is staking his claim the only way he can right now."

"Huh?" Fred sat down on the round red sofa. "Claim her?"

"The little gum drop is his mate. Every time I come in the room I can feel it." Lorne explained. "Don't think he's told her yet though."

Cordelia sat next to Fred and leaned back, reclining on the sofa. "Wait, what about Drusilla? Spike was crazy obsessed with her too, I thought she was the one and only of his unlife?"

"Apparently not. I'm sure he cared for the fruit loopy vampire but she's not his mate." Lorne told them.

Fred smiled at her two friends. "It's kind of sweet though isn't it? Who wouldn't want someone completely devoted to them?" She sighed quietly.

"Yea it's great if they're not a strong, psycho obsessed vampire who would rip your heart out if you look at him wrong. You've only known Spike for a day Fred, he's not cuddly like Angel is…was. In high school he tried to kill us all on Parent-Teacher Night, I had to stay in a supply closet with Willow till morning because no one knew we were in there. Thank God no one found out about that at school, it would have killed my reputation much sooner. Then he sent the Order of Taraka after Buffy but instead Xander and I got caught in the crossfire," She shivered at the memory of the bug man.

Lorne sliced his hand through the air, stopping Cordelia from continuing the list of evil deeds Spike has done. "Safe to say sugar pop that Spike hasn't exactly been a good guy but I'm telling you Liz is safer with Spike than anybody else at this point." Their conversation ended after that leaving the three people left in the hotel with nothing to do but wait for Liz and Spike to return.

TBC


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

_February 18, 2005_

The family of three made their way down the back Crashdown steps. Liz, about to push open the swinging door, whirled around quickly and told Spike with a single glance what she expected out of him. She wanted this experience to be as easy on Lucas as possible and he wouldn't be as open to Kyle if Spike made it clear he didn't like him.

Spike glared but nodded. He would keep his insulting comments to himself…while Luke was in the room anyway.

Lucas, who saw the interaction, giggled. "Mommy gave you the look."

"She certainly did." Spike agreed. He'd seen the 'you better not do anything funny' look a few times in their marriage.

Taking a deep, semi-calming breath, Liz peaked out of the diamond shaped window into the restaurant. She could see Kyle nervously standing up and then shaking his head and quickly sitting down, only to, a few seconds later, stand right back up. Liz instantly felt bad for her former friend and one time lover, he didn't even know if it would be better to sit or stand when he first officially meets Lucas. He didn't know what would make Lucas comfortable, what would make him smile, cry, or laugh. Kyle didn't know Luke and that was her fault.

It didn't matter that at the time, even now, she had a multitude of reasons for not telling Kyle, the point was she hadn't told him, possibly to the detriment of her son and Kyle's future relationship. Liz hoped that Kyle and Luke could make up some lost time now and she hoped he didn't hate her for keeping Lucas from him for four years. Exhaling she put on a brave face and pushed the swinging door open.

Immediately Kyle, who had again went to sit in the booth, stood up and nervously wiped his palms down along his jeans. He cleared his throat and took a shaky breath in and out. Kyle saw the spitting image of him as a young child. It made his knees weak and he wanted to sit down again but forced himself to remain standing.

"Kyle, I'd like you to meet Lucas. Lucas sweetie this is Kyle." She introduced them.

Kyle was silent for a moment; he saw how his son burrowed his face into Spike's neck, seeking comfort and security while slyly looking him over. "Hi Lucas."

At first Luke was silent too. Then Spike, who up until this point had been quiet as well but had been staring at the slightly shorter man with a cool gaze, jostled the little boy gently in his arms. "Luke, Kyle said hi. What do you say?"

Sticking his finger in his mouth he mumbled. "Hi Kyle."

Spike smiled at his son and nodded. "Good boy." He knew he did well when Liz rubbed her hand down his back.

Liz let out the breath she had been holding. "How about we sit down over here," she pointed to a table on her right, one that wasn't a booth so it'd be easier for Spike to hold Luke, who didn't look like he wanted to be let go right then.

"Sounds good pet." Spike agreed. With a soft push against her lower back he guided his family toward the table. Kyle sat on one side, Spike and Lucas on the other, with Liz sitting in the middle.

Again the group of four fell into an uncomfortable silence. Not sure where to start first. Liz, after a few moments, found a topic that might get some conversation going.

"Luke do you know that Kyle, back in high school, was both a wrestler and a basketball player?"

Immediately he brightened. "Really?"

Kyle sent Liz a thankful smile. "That I was." He gave Lucas a warm grin. "Do you like wrestling or basketball?"

"Both. Basketball is the funnest. I have a basketball hoop in the backyard. It's small though—Mommy says I have to be taller before I get a bigger one." Lucas pouted.

"You know my Dad said the same thing when I was younger. It sucks having to wait huh?" Kyle chuckled.

"No kidding. I've been this tall forever." He began to swing his legs back and forth on the left of Spike's lap. Both Liz and Spike knew that meant he was loosening up but he still needed to safety of his Dad's hold. "How tall do I have to be Mommy?"

"When you can reach the cookie jar on the counter with the help of a chair." She teased lovingly.

Luke pouted. "That's gonna take forever."

Spike smiled. "It'll go by faster than you think." He assured the youngster and tickled his ear and neck.

Although it hurt seeing Spike have such an easy time with Luke he was thrilled he got to spend this time the boy. "So have you started Kindergarten yet?" Kyle asked while keeping his back firmly glued to the back of the chair, although he wanted to lean forward, he kept himself where he was. Lucas was starting to relax and he had a feeling if he tried to get any closer he'd tense up and he didn't want that.

"No. I go next year. But I go to preschool." Luke sighed dramatically.

"You don't like preschool?" Kyle questioned.

"I bored there. Mommy and Daddy say I have to go. But there's no Uncle Lorne or Uncle Angel or Uncle Wesley or Uncle Gunn or Aunt Fred or Aunt Cordy or Aunt Buffy…" He trailed off after naming all the Aunts and Uncles that he saw on an almost daily basis.

Liz knew he would rather be home at the hotel spending time with his family but she felt that Luke needed to get to know kids his own age and kids who were human. Spike disagreed, mostly, and believed Lucas could learn everything he needed to from them or at least everything that was important.

However as extraordinary as their lives were she wanted to give their son some kind of balance. She didn't want him to just have supernatural experiences or just regular human experiences. The supernatural side he had to have some knowledge of, after all his father and Uncle were vampires, Lorne and Cordy were demons or had demon abilities, and Buffy and his mother were Slayers and she was also a half-alien, the supernatural was bound to play a part in his life but she didn't want that to be all he knew.

Kyle and Lucas continued to talk for another half an hour about various subjects. They both found out that their favorite Disney movies were _Toy Story_ and _The Lion King_. Luke told him about his stuffed animal that looked like Mufasa that slept next to his bed. The two also found out that their favorite color was blue, although Kyle seemed to like regular blue more while Lucas preferred navy blue. And they both loved Kraft™ Macaroni and Cheese and thought any other kind was sacrilegious.

Although they had similarities there were differences too. Kyle loved to watch football, American football. While Luke loved watching international football, soccer, with Spike. Kyle preferred Woody from _Toy Story_, while Luke, much to Spike's chagrin, loved Buzz. During that conversation Spike mumbled about Angel corrupting his son with namby-pamby astronauts.

Overall it was a good first meeting between Kyle and Lucas. One she hoped would last a little longer. However that wasn't to be, a few minutes into Kyle and Luke's cute but somewhat heated discussion over which was better, Twix or Snickers, the bell above the Crashdown door jingled and in walked Tess, Max, Isabel, Maria, and Michael. Alex and Serena were missing from the group.

Liz knew that last nights display of vampires and Slayers would cause the group of aliens and knowers of aliens to come over at some point today. She had hoped that it would be a little later in the day. The four people sitting at the table, turned toward the double doors as everyone filed into the restaurant curious and eager for answers.

TBC


	29. Chapter 28

Note: It looks like the next couple of chapters, 2 for sure but possibly even 3 or 4 chapters are going to be past parts. I noticed that for about 8 or so past chapters I was putting the year as 2000, when in actuality it should have been 2001. I haven't fixed them yet here but I have on the other site I post this on, however I do plan fix them here too at some point. This is a slightly longer chapter than I normally write but I just couldn't find a good spot to stop any earlier.

**Chapter 28**

_May 4, 2001_

It had been three days since Buffy and the others left and Spike arrived. There hadn't been any major attacks, just a couple vampires who heard that the Hyperion was warrior free, obviously they hadn't heard Spike had come to town.

It was during the latest fight that Liz, who had been standing off to the side watching Spike kick some undead butt, got woozy. She grabbed at the staircase railing and fought the dizziness threatening to bring her to her knees. This wasn't the first time she'd been dizzy or lightheaded during the pregnancy but it was the first time that she almost blacked out.

Spike saw Liz sway, if his heart could beat it would have stopped right then. "Liz!" That brief distraction allowed the vampire he fought to get in a good left hook to his face. Spike twisted around using the punch as momentum and swung his leg around kicking cleanly and quickly to the vampire's head. The vampire hissed and growled at Spike grabbing for his neck. He spun them around, Spike was getting ready to finish the intruder off and check on Liz when the attacking vampire exploded into dust.

Confused Spike kept his hands right where the vampire's shoulders had been. He barely registered the clang of the wooden stake falling to the lobby floor. What grabbed his attention was the girl on the stairs and the recently broken railing in front of her.

"Liz?" Spike ran to her, uncaring that she had the power to stake him too.

"Spike, what was that?" Sure she'd seen Buffy do some pretty cool things when slaying vampires but she wasn't Buffy. She'd seen Angel and Spike kick some major ass and also do some awesome things when slaying vampires but again she wasn't them.

Spike gently took her into his arms, rubbing circles on her back. "I'm pretty sure you just became a Slayer."

Liz whipped her panicked gaze toward him. "That's not—wait does that mean Buffy…?"

He shook his head negatively very quickly. "Probably not. The Slayer line technically doesn't pass through Buffy anymore. Not a hundred percent sure how it works luv but it has something to do with the first time Buffy died and the next Slayer…Kendal…Kelda…I don't know but it definitely started with a 'K', was called. After that the line went through her, so that would mean—" He trailed off letting Liz fill in the blanks.

"That Faith is dead."

After that statement Liz remained quiet. Spike led her down to the lobby floor and sat her down on the round red couch in the middle. He didn't say anything in those moments, he watched her though, held her hands, and waited for her to speak again. He'd have waited years but thankfully it was only a half hour.

"So I'm a Slayer now." The words sounded wrong to her. Sure, she knew it was a possibility she'd become one but she never thought it would actually be her. Liz saw how many Potentials there were and the group that had been there wasn't even all of them, what were the odds she'd be the one chosen?

"Looks like." Liz started getting that far off look again. Wanting to keep her talking Spike softly cupped her cheek, "Are you all right with that?"

Liz sniffled and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I mean I'll never be ok with someone dying but I also understand that's the only guarantee in the life of a Slayer, you die. Which brings up the obvious question, when will I die and what will happen to my baby?" She rubbed her belly.

"Pet—"

"Will I die before I give birth? Will I die sometime after? I don't want to be negative but it's something I have to seriously think about. I don't want my baby to grow up without me." Tears leaked from her eyes and down her cheeks, getting Spike's hand wet.

"Hey now, don't cry beautiful." Spike lifted her up and onto his lap wrapping his arms around her waist. "You won't die. I promise you." He whispered lovingly in her ear.

"How can you—"

"I can. Trust me. I'm not going to let anyone kill you." He vowed.

Liz wished she could believe, God she wanted to believe him so bad but how could she? She was a Slayer now, which meant death loomed over her all day, every day. Sobbing she snaked her arms around Spike's shoulders and buried her face into his neck.

It tore Spike's heart in two listening to her agonizing sobs and desperate whispers of 'I don't want to die' and 'I can't die'. He vowed that he'd keep her and the baby alive for a very long time. He wasn't going to lose them to the Grim Reaper.

RosAtSBtVSRosAtsBtVS

_May 5, 2001_

The next day was busier than it had been since Angelus, Buffy, and the others left for Sunnydale. The world had been saved the same day Liz got Slayer powers. Cordy received the phone call from Willow, things were still hectic but Willow managed to tell Cordy a few things before having to hang up and treat another injured Potential.

Willow told her that although Faith had died in the battle, it didn't necessarily mean that Liz was the new Slayer, since she had done a spell that gave all the Potentials around the world the Slayer abilities. The other, the town of Sunnydale was no more; all that was left was a big crater.

There had been some losses, while expected were unfortunate. Faith, obviously, Anya, Robin Wood, and at least half of the Potentials were dead. She was happy to hear that none of their people were among the losses. Angel, Wesley, and Gunn, although injured, were alive or in Angel's case, still undead, and on their way back with the others.

On the other end of the phone she heard Buffy tell Willow to tell her that everyone would be coming to the hotel and to get some rooms ready for when they arrived. Cordy's heckles rose at being told what to do by Buffy, just because she's the Slayer didn't mean she could order her around.

Before she could argue at Buffy through Willow, the red headed witch interrupted her with the last piece of important information, Angel had returned. He had been Angelus all through the battle, but while they were on the bus his soul was restored. Through the phone Cordy heard a gasp of pain and Willow had to go.

After she hung up Cordelia just leaned against the front desk and took in the various emotions swirling around in her head. She didn't think she'd be as upset as she was at the town no longer being there but she was. Her parents, thankfully, were safe. A couple years after graduation and Daddy's tax issues, the two had left Sunnydale and now lived up in Tacoma, Washington, far away from the Hellmouth.

Cordelia sighed and called the others down to the lobby. Fred came from the kitchen carrying a half-eaten taco, Lorne came in from outside, and Liz, with Spike glued to her side, came from upstairs, she assumed from her room. Once everyone was gathered she told them what she learned from Willow.

At the end Spike scoffed. "Those annoying Potential brats are coming back here? Why can't they go home where they bloody belong?" Liz had told him about her brief experience with the Potentials. Spike didn't think he could get more irritated at the Potentials but after he heard about what happened here he quickly amended that thought.

"Who knows? Willow didn't have time to explain. But Miss Slay Gal wants us to get some rooms cleaned up for everyone. Like we're her servants?" Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Did she say anything about Faith?" Liz asked. She hoped and prayed that Faith was ok and the new Slayer powers were just wrongly placed.

Cordy nodded her head. "Faith is dead. Can't say it's a great loss." While the once evil Slayer had begun to change it didn't mean she forgave Faith for all the trouble she caused everyone she loved and cared about. She saw Liz lower her gaze, hope draining from her eyes. She knew Liz didn't want to be a Slayer, she had heard Liz crying in her room a couple times, and so she tried to give her back some hope. "But it doesn't mean you're the next Slayer." She quickly followed up.

"What are you talkin' about?" Spike asked.

"Apparently all the Potentials got Slayer powers. Willow did a spell shortly before the big battle. I don't know if it's permanent or if Willow is planning on breaking the spell later but as of now it's not for sure that it's you Liz."

Liz breathed out a sigh of relief. "Ok, that's good. Maybe someone else will get the Slayer duty." Spike kept his hand around her waist and brought her deeper into his body till her cheek rested gently against his cotton t-shirt.

For the rest of the day, Cordelia, Lorne, Fred, and yes, even Spike, cleaned up a few rooms, enough so they were livable. Spike only helped because he saw Liz was trying to help too, which he promptly stopped. He didn't want Liz overdoing and kept taking things from her, dust cloths, Windex™, garbage, and boxes, all the while ordering her to sit and not help.

Liz would cross her arms and glare at Spike but would obey, for a few minutes anyway. Then the whole dance would start again. From another room across the hall that she and Lorne were working on, Cordy could hear the conversation between Liz and the bleached wonder.

"Spike I can help." Liz demanded.

"Yes you can. But you [i]may[/i] not." Spike bantered back. The sound of a box being moved could be heard.

"Why not?" Cordelia thought she heard a foot stomp.

"You shouldn't be lifting things while you're pregnant." Lorne and Cordy shared a look.

There was a brief silence then Liz said. "Spike, I could lift this bed with little problem right now. I don't think a box filled with pillows and sleeping bags is going to hurt me."

"Don't care, you're not lifting anything." He commanded.

"What about dusting? Or wiping something with Pledge?" She tried to bargain.

"No." Spike simply said.

A growl of frustration came from Liz. "No? Just no?"

"Fine you want more of an explanation, I'll give you one. The dusting will cause tiny little particles to float up in the air, you'll breathe them in and start hacking up a lung, sneezing, and getting sick. And the cleaning stuff has chemicals that you shouldn't be breathing in at all. You're lucky I don't send you to your room but I know you, you'll just start cleaning anyway. At least this way I'm able to watch you and make sure you don't do anything."

"Spike none of this stuff will harm me." She tried to assure him. "Besides as you said, I'm already in the room. I've already breathed in all that stuff you mentioned."

"If you keep pointing out the flaws in my plan, that's likely to get you spanked little girl." Spike growled at her. Cordelia heard Lorne chuckle as he put clean sheets on the bed.

For a moment Liz didn't say a word. At first Cordy thought Liz would get mad at Spike for threatening that. However she was surprised by her next statement.

"If you want me to stop pointing out the flaws to your plans then you shouldn't threaten me with a good time. It'll just reinforce that bad behavior." After that Lorne and Cordelia heard a playful growl and a shocked squeak. Then one soft smack was heard followed by a gasp from Fred. No more than two seconds later Fred hurried into the room.

"What happened?" Cordelia questioned the slender woman.

"Umm, Spike and Liz forgot I was in the room." Fred vaguely told her.

"And that means what sugar pop?" Lorne asked.

"Well, Spike lifted Liz off the bed, stood her up, brought her close and spanked her butt." Fred got a subtle blush on her cheeks and twisted her fingers together.

"Looks like Spike is making his claim known by each passing day." Lorne tossed a few sleeping bags on the freshly made bed. He hoped the Potentials didn't mind bunking up together, because there was no way he and the others were going to clean a room for each new guest.

Cordelia looked around the room. "Ok, this room looks done. The Sunnydale crew better appreciate that I'm ruining a perfectly good manicure for them."

Fred picked up the bag of garbage they were taking from room to room and her bucket of cleaning products. "It's doubtful Cordy. They weren't very nice when they were here last time." She tried to like everyone but even she couldn't excuse their behavior.

RosAtSBtVSRosAtsBtVS

Standing in Spike's arms, his hand molded onto her butt, she couldn't help the blush that crept up neck and onto her face. "Guess you weren't kidding huh?"

"First thing you should know about me luv, I never kid about spanking." He spoke lowly. "Especially when it's your butt I'm spanking."

Liz bit her lip and giggled. "I'll remember that."

"See that you do." He knew he should let her go but he continued to hold her close. Liz licked her lower lip and stared hard at his chest, avoiding his eyes. "What's on your mind?"

Liz remained silent for a moment, thinking about what she was going to say when finally she spoke. "I need to ask you a question. And if I'm wrong please don't laugh at me or anything. Pregnancy has made me a bit more emotional than I normally am so laughing at me right now wouldn't be the best confidence booster."

"Whatever it is, I won't laugh. Unless you're going to ask me to dress up like Bozo the Clown, then I'd have to laugh at you."

At that image Liz laughed with great amusement. "Don't worry; I hate clowns. They've creep me out ever since I was nine. Besides I wouldn't blame you for laughing at me if I asked that."

"Ok, then I can guarantee I won't laugh at whatever you have to ask me." He promised.

Liz breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok, that's good. Normally I think I would have realized this sooner but with so much going on I didn't put the pieces together until an hour ago. You've been really wonderful these last few days. At first I just thought it was because I'm the newest member in this whole battle against evil thing or that maybe you were being protective because you're attracted to me." She looked into his eyes then, wanting, needing to see his reaction.

"And now?" Spike whispered.

"Now, I'm wondering if…" She swallowed passed the nervousness and plowed straight ahead. "Am I your mate?" She'd been a little slow on the uptake but she couldn't deny that Spike had been doing a lot of things that she wouldn't expect a boyfriend of six months to do, let alone someone she'd known for three days.

Instead of answering like she hoped he would, Spike asked her a question too. "What if you were?"

"It's a little scary." She didn't want to lie to Spike; it was frightening to have someone so much a part of her life after only a short time. Plus she had already been in a relationship where things moved too fast and that turned out so well. However she couldn't deny that another part of her liked it too.

Spike lowered his arms and his gaze and started to step back but Liz took hold of his t-shirt keeping him right where he stood. "It is a little scary but I don't want to run away from it either. I know I like being around you. I know you're a vampire, obviously, it's kind of hard to miss but that doesn't bother me. You make me laugh, you make me feel safe, and you make me feel wanted. Those are things I really need and want. And I hope that I can and do make you feel the same way."

Liz watched with happiness as Spike's lips curled up into a boyish smile and his eyes lit up with warmth and excitement. It was an expression that she hadn't seen on Spike up to that point but it was one she wanted to see on him more. The smile just made him seem so young and innocent.

"Well I definitely feel wanted. The demanding stiff in my pants is a testament to that." The young and innocent expression was immediately shattered. However a naughty smirk and a sexy cock of the eyebrows replaced it.

Liz blushed again. Spike brought his body closer and got his face within scant inches of hers. "Spike?" She whispered.

"Yes luv?" He whispered back, any louder and it'd intrude on the moment.

She licked her lips slowly, watching as his eyes followed the movement of her tongue. "Kiss me."

"Happy to oblige." He leaned in and for the first time pressed his cool, full lips to her warm, soft ones.

At first their kiss was slow and searching. Both were testing the waters before diving in completely. Even with the barest of contact Liz could feel the tingles of excitement all the way down to her toes. This was nice, Liz thought. Really nice. She wanted more.

Spike gently laved attention on her lips. Liz brought her hands up to his jaw and delicately rested her fingers there while deepening the kiss.

With one arm wrapped around her waist and his other cupping the back of her neck he brought her body flush against his. He felt her growing belly between them and held her just a little bit tighter. She was his; her baby would also be his.

Sizzling electrical currents, which had nothing to do with her alien abilities, coursed through his body warming him like he never would have imagined. It was amazing to him that this tiny slip of a girl nearly brought him to his knees with a brush of her lips.

Their kiss went on for a few moments longer. They only stopped because Fred interrupted them when she got worried about the silence coming from the room. With another surprised gasp, similar to the one she gave earlier when Spike swatted Liz's behind, she scurried back out.

Liz laughed and put her forehead on his chest working to slow her breathing down. "We should probably continue cleaning. The Sunnydale people will be here in another two or so hours and there are still a couple rooms to clean."

Spike shrugged. "So? Let them bunk up a little tighter. Not like they haven't done it before." He pushed her hair back behind her ear. "There are better things we can do with our time."

She was tempted, she really was, but her responsible side won out. "I don't want to leave Cordy, Lorne, and Fred to do it all by themselves." Even though it pained her to admit it.

Sighing Spike nodded. "Fine. Let's get this bloody cleaning done and over with." He grumbled but started toward the box of clean pillows and sleeping bags to continue where they had left off before.

"Thank you Spike." Liz kissed his cheek and picked up a pillow tossing it on the bed. Finishing a few more touches in that room they moved on to the next room. Over the next two hours, they, meaning everyone but her since Spike still wouldn't let her do anything, dusted, polished, and put fresh sheets and sleeping bags in six other rooms, bringing the total of available rooms up to ten.

The rooms were finished just in time too. As the group of five descended down the stairs a group of moaning, injured, and tired people came in through the double doors of the Hyperion Hotel.

TBC


	30. Chapter 29

Note: This turned out to be more of a filler chapter than I originally planned but I figured the gangs (Scoobies, Potentials, and AI team) needed a bit of a break before jumping back in with the drama.

**Chapter 29**

_May 5 2001 _

The lobby became a flurry of activity as former Sunnydale residents flooded the hotel.

Injured Potentials, Liz couldn't think of anything else to call them even though they all had Slayer powers now, were being tended to. While they were less injured then they were after the battle because of their new faster healing, they still needed some fixing up.

The less injured parties were hustling back and forth getting Band-Aid's, bandages, and clean cloths. Lorne and Fred brought out some food, mostly small individual bags of chips and crackers but they also found some relatively fresh apples and bananas on the counter, cut those up and gave them to those who wanted them.

While Fred and Lorne dealt with the food, Liz and Spike brought a bag full of bottled water from the kitchen and handed them out to their new guests. While walking around giving out the water Liz got a few glares from the Potentials, less than she expected, but still some. It was safe to assume that some of the Potentials weren't happy she remained out of the Sunnydale battle. Spike whenever he saw a glare, growled in warning.

Once she handed the water out to everyone she spotted Buffy near the foot of the stairs. Buffy stood there, watching everyone, taking in the scene, and the new Slayers, all the while probably wondering what the heck was she going to do now?

While Liz certainly didn't have the answer, there was something she wanted to say to Buffy. Now seemed as good of a time as any.

"Buffy?" Liz spoke quietly so as not to completely startle the young woman.

Buffy slowly shifted her fixed gaze from the room to Liz. "Yea?"

"I didn't know Faith at all, except for the brief moments she was here. But I know you and Angel really cared about her. I'm sorry she didn't make it out." Liz said sincerely.

Buffy's chin quivered a little holding back the tears. "Thanks Liz. That means a lot, even though Faith and I didn't see eye to eye on many things and we had our issues with each other, I'm going to miss her." She relaxed a little on the railing behind her and cleared the lump forming in her throat. "How are you dealing with the Slayer powers?"

Liz shrugged. "Probably not as well as some of the others. The others, from what I gathered, wanted to be Slayers. They wanted the power that comes with it. I don't. I hope when this spell wears off or the spell is broken that one of the other girls gets it."

"Why?" Buffy wondered.

"Being a Slayer, whether you're the only one or one in a thousand, means death is guaranteed sooner rather than later. My child shouldn't have to be scared that his Mom isn't coming home." Liz explained.

Buffy nodded, understanding her sentiment. "What if you weren't pregnant? Would you want to be the Slayer then?"

Liz shook her head negatively. "Honestly, no. I've got other worldly problems and powers galore, powers I don't understand yet and the last thing I'd want are more. I admire what you and all the other previous Slayers have done, protecting innocents, stopping the world from ending, and giving up all semblance of a normal life but that's not what I want."

"Well, I hope for your sake that one of the others is chosen." Buffy smiled, gave Liz's shoulder a light squeeze of comfort and went to help Angel unpack the rest of the bus. Before they went into the big battle everyone who lived at the Summers's home had each packed a bag and put it on the school bus, no one knowing if they'd be able to go back to the house or not after the Hellmouth was closed.

RosBTVSRosBTVSRosBTVSRosBTVS

An hour later almost everyone was up and moving around. Having eaten a little something and attended to their injuries it was unanimous that the one thing everyone wanted was sleep.

"We've cleaned up ten rooms here, so they'll have to be some bunking together." Fred addressed the room full of people.

"Well who's bunking with whom?" One of the Potentials questioned.

Wesley spoke up then, with clear coolness in his tone. "All of you can decide how to split those ten rooms up."

Fred swung a surprised expression toward her boyfriend at his somewhat curt answer. Making her wonder what had happened while he was in Sunnydale?

"Liz why don't you and I show them the rooms." Fred suggested.

"Sure." Liz agreed. She bent down and picked up her bottle of water and went up a couple stairs. "Follow us." The group of Xander, Giles, Dawn, Willow, Andrew, and fifteen newly appointed Slayers fell in step behind Liz and Fred.

As the two, with the group following, climbed the stairs one of the Potentials asked a question. "Why can't we have our own rooms? This is a pretty big hotel, there's got to be at least three hundred rooms."

Once they reached the top Liz turned and sighed. And so complaining started. Although to be fair they probably didn't know how old the hotel was or even how long it had been vacant. "Yes, there are a lot of rooms here, about four hundred and fifty actually. However most of the rooms in this hotel haven't been lived in since the fifties. We didn't know everyone would be coming here after the battle in Sunnydale. We only had time to clean ten rooms." She explained.

"Can we clean a room out while we're staying here?" Another asked from the back.

Liz turned to Fred. She had more of a say in that then she did. "If you're staying here I don't see why not. But this is Angel's hotel. This is where Angel Investigations conduct business and where we live. If you want an absolute answer then I recommend asking Angel." Fred told them.

Liz hoped most of the Potentials headed on home when they figured out who the real next Slayer was. At the very least she wanted Kennedy to head back to wherever she came from. It was unlikely the two of them would ever like each other and they certainly didn't see eye to eye on anything. However seeing the way Kennedy and Willow were holding hands it didn't look like she would be packing up anytime soon. Not unless Willow left, something else she didn't see happening.

The relatively short walk from the lobby to the bedrooms that were made available continued. "Ok, this hallway and a couple of the rooms down that hallway," Liz pointed in the other direction, "Are where Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Cordy, Buffy, Angel, Spike, and I reside. Lorne sometimes stays here as well, he's the green guy that was singing those soothing melodies downstairs, but mostly, at least normally, he's at his club Caritas."

"There are a couple of empty rooms between a lot of our living areas. We hope to eventually knock out some of the walls and make some larger suites. Wesley has been talking about making one of the rooms near ours a mini-library slash laboratory area. Liz is going to make the room next to hers a nursery and possibly a play room in the future." Fred smiled at Liz at the end of her nervous rambling and tenderly patted her slightly protruding belly.

Liz grinned back, staring lovingly at the room that would become her son's room. There hadn't been time to talk to Angel about getting someone in to knock down the wall with round the clock darkness, Angelus being needed and the Sunnydale crisis, but she hoped after day returned they'd be able to set that up.

Turning back to the group she motioned them to follow her around another corner. "And these are the rooms that you'll all have while staying here." Liz opened the door to the first room on the left and talked about the room. "Three of the rooms are like this, a bathroom at the back right, plus one room at the back left with a twin bed, and the living room area has a pull out couch. The other seven bedrooms are just one bedroom area and a bathroom. There are sleeping bags, blankets, and extra pillows in all the rooms, if you need more just let someone here know and one or two of us will go down to one of the two stores that have remained open during this all night all the time issue."

"Which room is Spike staying in?" A nervous and somber boy asked from the other side of Kennedy. Liz hadn't paid him much attention, he had been quiet since arriving at the hotel, and she wondered if he was always like that or if something huge happened in front of him that scarred him.

"Don't even think about it Andrew." Spike's voice dashed his hopes.

"Just what our tour needs, Captain Peroxide." Xander quipped from the safety of the group. He was, of course, still hurting over Anya's death but that didn't stop him from giving Spike a hard time.

Spike snarled lowly at Xander. "Stuff it Harris." He pushed his way through the group toward the front of this impromptu tour of the hotel. He was up here for one reason only…well two reasons. The first, check on Liz and keep her as at ease as possible and two to bug annoying Potentials and the remaining Scoobies.

Hoping to defuse the situation Liz greeted Spike with a smile. "Hey Spike. Have you fed yet?"

Smirking Spike raised a mug full of blood. "Taking care of that now pet." He took a deep gulp of the red thick liquid, enjoying the many grimaces of disgust from the gathered people. His face transformed mid gulp and several Potentials backed away.

Liz rolled her eyes. Maybe she was being unfair to them but she couldn't help but be disappointed in the group of girls. Yes, Spike was a vampire but didn't they know that he, and all other vampires for that matter, changed their face when they fed? It didn't matter if it came from the tap or a coffee mug. It didn't mean that he was going to freak out and tear all their throats out.

So instead of following suit and tensing for a fight, she got closer to Spike placing a small hand on his back letting him know without words that she wasn't frightened of him.

Feeling the soft pressure of her warm hand against his hard muscled back filled him with pride. She was upset that the girls showed fear toward him. He didn't mind it, to be brutally honest he liked it, dare he say, loved it when people backed away with fear in their eyes. It whets his appetite for a hunt, didn't matter that he wouldn't kill them, maybe, but it got the juices flowing.

"So how much longer is this tour going to be luv?" Spike gazed sweetly at the short brunette.

"Not too much longer." Liz promised while stroking his back.

Kennedy watched their interaction, had ever since they arrived. Spike had rarely left Liz's side and when he did it was only for a few minutes or less. Spike and Liz kept an eye out for one another, always taking note of where the other was in the crowded room. "Oh my God." Kennedy whispered. Willow and Spike were the only ones who heard her quiet words.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked concerned for her girlfriend.

Seeing Spike's curious glare in combination with her weariness kept her mouth shut for now. "Nothing, I thought I saw something small and furry out of the corner of my eye, but I think it was a trick of light. I hope it was a trick of light." Kennedy quickly covered.

Continuing Liz and Fred pointed out the other rooms. There was one room at the end of the hall that had to be pointed out for the safety of everyone. "Ok this room is off limits. Nobody go in unless Angel, Buffy, Liz, Spike, Gunn, Wesley, Lorne, or I say you can." Fred spoke firmly to make sure everyone knew she was serious.

"Why?" Xander questioned.

"Because she told you to One-Eye." Spike said.

Hoping to keep the bickering to a minimum Liz interjected with enough of a reason to hopefully keep people out. "This room is rather dangerous to go into without proper warning. Fred, Wesley and I do the more dangerous experiments in there, Fred a couple weeks ago was working on something that if touched without the proper precautions would have disabled your senses by melting them away."

"What would be the point of that?" Willow asked suddenly worried about staying so close to that room.

Fred shrugged shyly, "It wasn't supposed to do that. I was working on a way to reduce or eliminate pain when someone is injured but it didn't quite work out that way."

"As Siegfried can attest to." Liz gently rubbed Fred's shoulder in comfort. Siegfried was Fred's rabbit which she, at times, let roam around the room, he sniffed and touched the liquid and that was the last thing he ever did. Fred found a gooey mess where Siegfried had been hopping around.

"Eww." A few Potentials shivered in disgust.

The room wasn't only used for experiments but that's all anyone, besides the ones who already lived there, needed to know. That room was also used for Liz's alien power tests and holding out of control demons and vampires, before the cage had been put into the basement anyway.

Room 392 had actually been altered before Angel bought the hotel, during the time when people, and creatures, were in and out every day. Wesley found some records dating back to the forties that told the story of the room. It was quite a fascinating read. Many a demon had been held there till they were calm enough to be let go, some however were experimented on. It depended on who ran the hotel. Those reports were less fascinating and more disturbing.

"Ok, before everyone picks their rooms and who they're going to bunk with, there are some rules and basic things that you'll need to know." Fred started. "First you already know, Room 392 is off limits without permission. Second, the kitchen is down the stairs and to your left, a lot of food is in there, help yourselves. Third, everyone pitches in, whether it's financially or by doing chores; if you stay here you will be doing something to maintain the upkeep of the hotel."

"We have to clean? Can't we just patrol?" Kennedy put a hand on her hip. They didn't have to clean or pay for anything when they were in Sunnydale, the only things they did was patrol, learn how to fight, and roll up their sleeping bags.

"You can patrol however you'll also be doing something else here. Like Fred said, whether you pay or do a chore, it can be the dishes or laundry or washing a window you can stay. If you don't want to do either of those that is your choice, however it's our choice if we want to keep you or anyone else here. If you don't chip in you're out, and there might be an abandoned cardboard box on Third Avenue that's available." Liz glared at her, she hoped Kennedy didn't get the Slayer powers permanently either, it would only make the girl that much more difficult to deal with.

Willow put her hand on Kennedy's arm begging her to keep quiet. She loved the girl but sometimes her attitude of superiority did grate on her nerves. "It's ok. We'll pitch in. It's the least we can do after you all got the rooms ready and are letting us crash here."

Fred quickly finished up the last of the rules, "Don't go into Angel's or Wesley's offices unless told to or invited. Until permanent darkness is eliminated it's the buddy system when going out of the hotel, and the last rule, don't scare away customers."

"Now that that's all taken care of, it's time for pretty pregnant possible Slayers to go take a nap." Spike commanded. Without a word to the rest of the group he guided Liz through the standing bodies and took her to her room.

Spike didn't even wait to see if Liz would want him to stay with her while she napped. He invited himself in and closed the door behind him, shutting out the rest of the world.

"I'm not that tired Spike." Liz told him, even though she was fighting off a yawn.

"It's important for you to rest especially after the eventful day you've had today." He argued.

Liz chuckled. "I'm not a cat Spike. It's not the end of the world if I don't nap for twenty out of the twenty four hours in a day." Even as she pointed that out she made her way to the unmade bed.

The end table light was on, it was the only form of illumination in the room, the curtains were closed, despite the darkness outside, and her overhead light needed a new light bulb. Although it was dark Liz didn't know when or if day would return to L.A. and since Spike and Angel were frequent visitors she kept the curtains shut, tightly.

Liz sat on the edge of the bed, lifted her foot up to the end table and started to remove her tennis shoes. Spike was at her feet within moments taking her foot down from the table. He carefully untied the blue and red laces that Fred gave her and slipped the shoes off her feet.

Once removed he lifted the blanket and motioned for her to get under the covers. "No use arguing, you're going to nap for at least an hour."

She rolled her eyes but smiled sweetly at him. "Fine." Liz sighed and curled under the covers.

Spike draped the blanket over her and shut the end table light. He brushed her hair away from her face. "Sleep well pet."

He was about to leave the room when Liz asked in a soft voice. "Spike? Will you lay down with me?"

Spike felt a pleased smile form on his lips. Never had someone asked him to lay down with them. In fact not many people asked him to do much of anything. Drusilla had always demanded things and being his sire and his former dark princess he never complained or disobeyed. Harmony would also demand, however he wouldn't give her what she wanted immediately, she'd then whine until he gave in. Buffy was someone who was use to getting her way and would order and glare until he agreed to do it. And Angelus would tell him to do something then walk away, knowing that he would obey his grand-sire. But no one had ever asked if he would do something for them. It made his response to her request easy. "I would love to."

He slid off his long leather coat and hung it over the rocking chair in the corner, then he took off his boots tossing them without a care somewhere to the right of the chair. Quietly he went to the bed, slid under the covers with Liz and brought her into his protective embrace, pressing the length of his body against hers.

"Thank you Spike." She placed her hand on top of his, intertwining their fingers. Within moments the two were dozing peacefully.

TBC


	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

_Hyperion Hotel; 6:35 p.m. _

"Fred can you pass me the seasoning?" Liz pointed at the jar of season salt in the cupboard above Fred's head.

"Sure." Reaching above her she grabbed the seasoning and handed it to Liz. Fred then went to the freezer and pulled out four bags of frozen French fries.

They were having burgers, fries, and Fred was also making a salad for those who didn't want burgers and fries. Liz started mixing the hamburger meat and the seasonings together.

After waking from her nap with Spike, he and Angel went out to the blood bank and butcher shops still open in the city to gather up a few weeks worth of blood. They would return soon and then Angel said he'd grill the hamburgers. Which immediately made her giggle thinking of Angel grilling up the food, he's a vampire what would he know of grilling…except maybe people. That made her stomach roll a bit but it went away quickly.

"Do you think we should make anything else?" Liz asked Fred.

Fred thought it over a bit. "Tacos?" She said semi-jokingly. Fred loved tacos, still does as a matter of fact but she had told Liz how when she got back from Pylea that all she wanted was tacos. And that's pretty much all she ate for weeks.

"I'm pretty sure we don't have taco shells."

"Too bad. What do we have?" Fred read the back of the fry bags and set the oven to the correct temperature and turned it on.

Liz opened the walk in freezer and searched inside, "About twenty frozen pizzas, another thirty frozen dinners, some tubs of ice cream that I don't even want to know how old they are, and—oo hot dogs and bratwursts." She pulled out the dogs, brats, and hot dog buns. "How bout the fridge?"

Fred opened the walk in fridge next to the freezer and did a similar inventory search. "A lot of fruit, yogurt, condiments, cheese, three day old apple pie, and some left over pizza."

"Yum. I'll cut up some of the fruit while you make the salad." Liz delegated.

"Sounds like a plan." Fred agreed.

A few minutes later the dinner was prepped and ready to cook. All they needed now was Angel to cook it.

7:10 p.m.

Kennedy paced alone in her and Willow's bedroom. Even though four other girls were also bunking with them, she already considered it just hers and Willow's.

As she walked back and forth across the room she recounted the last few days. Since Buffy had returned to Sunnydale with the evil vampire Angelus in tow she'd been biding her time. Kennedy knew Buffy wasn't equipped to be the Slayer; after all she let vampires into her home. She has been sleeping with one of the most evil vampires that ever lived and she expected everyone to follow her when that was the judgment she'd shown? Plus that didn't take into account all the innocent lives that have been lost since she took the potentials in.

Now to make matters worse it seemed Liz, another potential, was getting pretty cozy to another evil vampire. Just because Spike and Angel were on the side of good now, or appeared to be, didn't mean they were good. Both Buffy and Liz were giving Slayers a bad name. Even Faith, God rest her soul, had a pretty hefty shadow on her resume, killing people and working for the bad guy is not a good idea when you're supposed to be the good guy.

She had to show those two up somehow. Not just once or twice but a lot so the other potentials would see that she, Kennedy, was the ideal Slayer and should be the one leading and calling the shots. Now all she had to do was figure out what she'd do and then do it.

Straightening her back she pulled every ounce of confidence into her face and body. Time to go to work.

9:10 p.m.

Two hours later everyone had eaten dinner. It had been a relatively quiet affair, since everyone was still tired and a bit in shock from their recent battle. But small talk and chewing their food filled the silences just enough where it wasn't awkward.

It was thirty minutes after everyone had finished dinner; the dishes were being done by Wesley, Lorne, and about five potentials. Cordy was resting after getting a vision of a demon attack while she was eating desert and Angel, Buffy, Gunn, and the rest of the potentials that weren't too injured were out dealing with what Cordelia saw.

Meanwhile downstairs Spike and Liz were lightly training. Spike had been showing Liz some moves that he wanted her to learn. Training had been plugging along at a fairly good pace but now she and Spike were at a stand still. She didn't want to do what he was asking her too. The last thing Liz wanted to do was hurt Spike and doing what he asked, would hurt him.

"Ok pet, when I come at you I want you to give me a good solid punch right in the nose." He said for what felt like the millionth time.

"But Spike…" She'd been trying to tell him ever since they started the next round of training that she didn't think she'd be able to hit him. Spike didn't believe her and told her that instinct would take over when a vampire came toward her in a threatening manner.

"Just punch me in the nose." Spike stated again.

Liz didn't bother to repeat her previous denials; Spike wouldn't listen to them anyway. He'd only tell her again that Slayer instinct would negate all her worries and refusals to hit him. So she'd let Spike see for himself that she couldn't hit him.

Spike turned away from her and walked across the room. If she had to guess she figured he had to fight his mate instinct as well. He didn't want to come at her in a violent manner but he was determined to teach her proper fighting and punching and listening to her instincts.

A few moments later Spike rapidly turned around, his face was transformed into a feral, angry, 'I'm going to kill you' expression. Spike ran toward her snarling fiercely.

Spike was right, instinct was telling her to punch and fight the vampire coming toward her. It even itched to reach for one of the stakes hanging on the wall. However her mate bond and her desire to not hurt him was stronger. Instead of injuring Spike with a pop to the nose, she stepped aside quickly and pushed Spike a little bit away from her.

Spike sighed and turned, his face still vamped but he wasn't snarling or looking angry anymore. "That was not a punch luv." He looked at her with warmth in his yellow eyes.

"I know." Liz stated. "I didn't want to hit you."

Chuckling softly Spike made his way back over to her. Bringing his hands to rest on her hips he kissed her forehead. "Did you at least feel the instinct?"

"Yes. I felt that but my desire to not hurt you was louder." She put her hands flat against Spike black t-shirt. "Just like I told you it would be." Liz rested her chin on his chest and stared up at him with a mischievous smirk.

While the couple was talking and holding each other neither noticed the silent approach of Kennedy and three other potentials back from fighting what was in Cordy's vision. Kennedy had heard the last part of their conversation and how Liz, a potential with Slayer powers, couldn't hurt Spike, a blood sucking fiend. She'd just have to show the little girl how it was done.

Without warning Kennedy pulled Spike away from Liz. With two solid punches to his solar plexus and a hard kick to his face Spike went flying into the wall behind him, knocking down stakes and swords with his flying body.

"Hey!" Liz shouted and went to seek justice for Spike.

With moves that Spike taught her she got Kennedy in a head lock and kicked her back leg up smacking her in the nose and then she did it again for good measure. As the momentum of her kick knocked Kennedy up right she blocked Kennedy's punch, and then entangled their hands and arms so she couldn't use them, and rammed Kennedy's face into the closest hard surface, which happened to be the metal railing of the basement stairs.

At that Kennedy snapped her head back catching Liz on the chin but Liz didn't let go until saw what her next move was going to be. Always mindful of her pregnant belly Liz pushed Kennedy away just before she kneed her stomach in an attempt to get away from Liz.

Kennedy rolled on the concrete and landed up on her feet. She was about to charge her and continue their fight when Spike, having recovered, got between them and started teaching the little bitch some manners.

Two of the three potentials jumped up and ran to go get someone, to break up the fight or to get help for Kennedy, Liz wasn't sure. The other potential started toward Spike and Kennedy. Liz put a hand on her arm. "You don't want to get involved in this."

"But he's a vampire and he's going to really hurt her." She exclaimed.

"Right now Kennedy has the abilities of a Slayer, she can hold her own. Besides she shouldn't have attacked him." Liz sneered.

Spike snarled at Kennedy. Normally he'd be bantering with his opponent but this was different than any other fights he's been in with Slayers, or anybody for that matter. He wasn't interested in playing verbal volleyball with this potential Slayer and for him to not want to verbally spare was an insult to his opponent.

Pounding footsteps could be heard from the basement as the available people came rushing down to see and possibly stop the fight between vampire and potential. Wesley pushed forward and was about to call a halt to the battle when Spike bent Kennedy backward and kicked her hard in the back sending her flying to the foot of the basement stairs at Wesley's feet.

"What in the world is going on here?" Wesley questioned, glaring at the girl at his feet and Spike who had gathered Liz into his arms and was running his cool hands over her body, ensuring that she didn't receive any injuries in her brief fight with Kennedy.

Since it didn't look like Spike was able to tell Wesley what happened, Liz did. "Spike and I were down here, he's been teaching me some moves. We were taking a break and talking when Wonder Girl over there pulled Spike away and attacked him."

Kennedy rolled onto her back and was helped up by a couple other girls. She wiped at the blood trickling from her mouth.

"Then I jumped in, fought her for a few seconds, Spike recovered and started fighting her. And," Liz pointed to the injured girl, "that's the result."

"Why in the world would you attack someone unprovoked?" Wesley stood facing Kennedy.

Kennedy swallowed some of the blood that had collected in her mouth and started talking. "I came down and heard her tell him that she couldn't hit him. I pulled him away to show her how it was done."

"You fucking stupid bint. Did you ever think to ask yourself why she couldn't hit me?" Spike growled out, his face still vamped.

"Because she's not a Slayer, sure she's got the powers right now but she doesn't have the instinct." She shot back.

Spike was about to tell her the truth of the matter but Liz gently tightened her hand on the back of Spike's shirt. Why didn't she want people to know about their mated status?

"And it couldn't be because he's never done anything to hurt me, so I in turn wouldn't want to do anything to hurt him?" Liz mumbled quietly, though the majority of the room heard it.

"You've only know him for a few days. Maybe he's just buttering you up to put you in a false sense of security and then when you least expect it he'll pounce." Kennedy took a threatening step toward the couple. "Any Slayer worth her salt would have staked him by now."

Spike stepped in front of Liz blocking her from the advancing girl. "You don't know shit." He simply stated.

"Maybe you're the one being played Spike-y boy. Did you ever think of that? Maybe she's playing the sweet, weak victim so she'll have some strong man to protect her." She argued.

At that Liz laughed joyfully. "Oh sweetie, I'm not you. I don't need to butter people up so they like me or protect me."

Wesley pressed his fingers together on the bridge of his nose. He really hated these potential slayers, not Liz or a couple of the other girls but the majority of them gave him a pounding headache. How had Giles and Buffy done it all these months?

"All right. That's enough everyone. Liz, Spike why don't you both go cool off somewhere and relax. Kennedy I am only going to say this to you once. Don't ever attack any of my people again. If you do you're out on your ass and if you get beaten to a pulp before hand that's just too damn bad. I will not have you causing strife in this hotel, do you understand me?"

Reluctantly Kennedy nodded. Spike and Liz made their way through the crowd on the steps and pointedly ignored Kennedy's glare as they moved passed.

Once in Liz's room, away from prying eyes, Spike turned and faced Liz. "Why don't you want people to know that we're mated?"

Liz, confused by his statement, halted to a stop and stared quizzically at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Downstairs, when I was set to tell the annoying bint about our bond you tightened your hand on my shirt, giving me the distinct impression that you didn't want that known. Why?" Spike silently begged Liz to not break his heart. He'd had enough of that to last ten lifetimes.

Liz relaxed. "No, Spike. It's not that I don't want [i]people[/i] to know. It's that I don't want [i]Kennedy[/i] to know."

Spike straightened. "What does it matter?"

Liz took Spike's hand and guided him over to the bed, the sat and she explained her reasoning. "Right now she thinks I'm weak. She thinks she has an advantage on me. If she thinks that she's stronger than me and can beat me easily if we ever do get into another fight, it'll be a big mistake. Sometimes it's better to have someone think you're weaker than you are, makes them not try as hard to kick your ass."

Slowly Spike nodded his agreement. "That makes sense." He looked down at there clasped hands. "So you're not embarrassed to be with me?" It was a question he didn't want to ask but he had to know. Over a century worth of insecurities reared their ugly head. When he was William and known for his god awful poetry, no woman ever looked passed his curly hair, soft voice, and nervous manner, no woman that he could get the attention of, except Mum, were proud to be seen with him. Then when he was an evil murdering monster Drusilla would always compare him to her 'Daddy' and he never measured up, even after killing two Slayers he still hadn't been bad enough for her.

"Oh Spike." Liz rose from her spot on the bed and got on top of his lap, straddling him so she could face him. She cupped her hand at his nape and another caressed his sharp cheekbones. "Who could ever be embarrassed to be with you?" She kissed him deeply putting all her love and happiness at being with him into that kiss.

"You're so protective. Downstairs when you fighting Kennedy you kept your body between us, the whole time, not once allowing her to get near me. You're so loving, so strong, you make me laugh" She kissed his jaw gently, "and let's be honest, you are incredibly hot. And every time you speak in that sexy English accent I get a lot of down low tickles."

"Is that right." Spike licked and bit at his lower lip as he stared up at her with lusty bedroom eyes. "Let's see if I can give you some more of those down low tickles." Spike chuckling low in his throat began showing her exactly what he was capable of.

RosBTVSRosBTVSRosBTVSRosBTVS

A half an hour later Wesley sat at his desk, reading through one of his vampire books, when Giles knocked on the doorframe of his office.

"Mr. Giles." Wesley greeted. "Did you need something?" There was clearly something troubling him.

"I heard about what occurred with Kennedy, Liz, and Spike. Some of the girls are saying Spike attacked, others are saying Kennedy started it; a couple are saying Liz started it. I trust that you'll give me the accurate play-by-play."

Wesley gestured toward the chair in front of his desk, inviting Giles to sit. "Spike and Liz were downstairs. Since it was decided it wasn't safe for Liz to patrol she asked Spike to teach her some maneuvers to get out of certain holds. What I tell you next cannot be repeated, not yet anyway."

Giles nodded, "Of course." He continued to listen.

"Fred mentioned a development in Spike and Liz's relationship. I've been doing some research on what she told me." Wesley handed Giles the book and pointed out the passage he wanted his former colleague to read.

"Are you telling me that Spike has identified Liz as his mate?" Giles asked after reading the selected passage.

"That's precisely what I'm saying. When I came downstairs Spike and Kennedy were in a violent fight. From what I gathered from all three parties involved was that Liz told Spike she couldn't hit him; Kennedy decided to, quote 'show her how it was done' unquote, and proceeded to hit and kick Spike." Wesley tented his fingers. "Liz jumped in momentarily while Spike was taken out; once Spike recovered he attacked Kennedy and kept her away from Liz. I was surprised when Spike stopped to be perfectly honest with you."

Giles put the book back on the desk; he remained quiet for a few moments gathering his thoughts. Setting the Spike, Kennedy fight aside for a moment, "Why in the world is this happening now?" At Wesley's confused expression Giles explained. "In all of the Watcher's Diaries I've read I've only read about three similar cases of vampires choosing the Slayer as their mate. Now there are two in a short amount of time. Buffy and Angel, we both saw what Angelus was like in Sunnydale, if Buffy hadn't stopped him a few times he would have ripped out the throats of a few of the potentials. And he went berserk on a Turok-Han that went after her. Now this whole thing with Spike and Liz…" He trailed off.

"I think it's happened a lot more than the Watcher's Diaries have said." Wesley suggested.

At that Giles's gaze met Wesley's again, instantly putting together what the other man thought. "Of course." He stood up quickly. "The Watcher's Council gets those diaries when the Slayer dies, to save their Slayer's reputation they would have omitted that information. There's nothing more disgusting to the council than to have the Slayer fall in love with a vampire or demon, let alone become their mate. Then there would be the obvious execution of the former watcher."

"Exactly. I'd be will to wager a lot more Slayers have had vampire or other supernatural mates. Humans aren't strong enough for them, physically speaking. Who better to be attached to than a creature of similar strengths, one who knows what they face every night, one who could navigate the underworld with little problem, it makes perfect sense. I've looked into those three other cases; each of those watchers were either fired, or killed." Wesley revealed.

"The one that was fired couldn't be killed. His father was an influential member, in a position of power, plus a large benefactor of the council. They wouldn't have risked his death." He'd read the stories too shortly after Buffy and Angel had originally gotten together.

Giles took off his glasses and scrubbed them clean. An old habit that he used quite often. Turning his thoughts back to the fight in the basement he thought on what he could do. The infighting among the new temporary Slayers while expected was also heartbreaking. He'd hoped they could learn to work together but he should have known it would have been near impossible. It was why Kendra and Buffy, then Faith and Buffy had problems. There was only supposed to be one. The Slayer's instinct would be to take out the other alpha female and fight for dominance.

"I was hoping to be able to give the girls some kind of break before moving forward with my idea but it appears it would not be wise." Giles stated aloud.

"What idea?"

"We need to start a battery of tests on the girls. Their Slayer abilities will begin to get weaker as the days go on. Willow's spell is only intended to work for a short time. Once we figure out who is getting weaker we'll be able to figure out who the real next Slayer is." Giles leaned against the wall across the room.

"Less Slayers, less infighting?"

"In theory. Although if what happened in the basement is any indication I have a feeling that some of the girls will take not being the Slayer harder than others. We need to be prepared for that."

Wesley nodded. "Yes, you're quite right. We might want to also get the girls talking, together and individually. It might be beneficial and helpful in the long run."

"Now what about this constant night going on here? Do you have any idea what's causing it or how to undo it?" Giles questioned.

"We have some theories, none that have panned yet. There is the Beast, which according to Fred hasn't made an appearance since its last visit but I don't see that remaining the case for much longer. It doesn't appear to be an intelligent creature, so Angel thinks there is someone behind the scenes controlling it." Wesley scrubbed at his face and then pushed his hands through his hair.

"How about I help you with it tomorrow after we all get more rest?" Giles suggested.

Wesley agreed. "Yes, that would be very helpful and much appreciated." The two watchers say goodnight and head to their rooms. He went to the room he shared with Fred and looked forward to unwinding with her.

Giles went to his room where he was bunking with Xander and Andrew. As he made his way down the hall he gave serious thought to sleeping on that big red round sofa in the lobby. Although it looked inviting he promised he wouldn't leave Xander alone with Andrew for too long.

Giles figured that at least part of that was so Andrew wouldn't talk his ear off about Anya. Her death wouldn't be easy to put behind him. Plus Xander knew if Andrew didn't be quiet, Giles could get him to be silent, for a little while at least. These last few days had been a rollercoaster of emotions and events; he wondered what tomorrow would bring.

TBC


	32. Chapter 31

Note: As always thank you everyone for the wonderful feedback. Ok, this is a shorter chapter than what I had planned. Lots of personal family stuff going on and then a couple weeks ago I got into a car accident and hurt my wrist a little bit. Thankfully no one was severely injured and we were all able to drive to wherever we were going. This was actually my first car accident as the driver in the years I've been driving and thankfully it wasn't my fault. So anyway I decided to split up the chapter, I was going to have the tests also be in this chapter but since it hurts a bit to write for a long period of time I stopped it at the point I did. Hope everyone enjoys.

**Chapter 31**

_May 6, 2001; Next Morning; Hyperion Hotel_

Rupert Giles, Official Watcher to one Slayer, unofficial Watcher of many Slayers. All morning he had been doing what he did best, watching and observing the activities around him. He watched as Spike made his way downstairs and to the kitchen, he watched as Spike took a mug of blood and a plate full of breakfast foods upstairs to, he assumed, Liz.

Later he observed the others come down for breakfast and he listened to their chatter. Some still spoke of their recent battle, others spoke of wanting to go to the mall and shop for a couple hours…if the malls had been open in LA, and some wondered about who would be the true slayer. There was a possibility it was one of them but there were still potentials or now temporary slayers all around the world. They were fewer than they were a few months ago but there were others still out there.

An hour after everyone's breakfast he witnessed Spike and Liz at the round red couch in the middle of the lobby and Spike gently massaged away the aches from a lumpy mattress. None of the Angel Investigation team paid attention to the two, although Spike had only been there for a few days they didn't seem surprised or concerned about their relationship.

Giles couldn't say the same about some of the members of the Scooby Gang or their recent house guests. It was clear from the glances in the new couple's direction that it raised questions and suspicions.

Giles could see Kennedy would be a problem. The young nineteen year old girl, who was technically too old to be called as a new slayer, made her displeasure known with snide comments and icy glares. The senior watcher honestly didn't know what her problem stemmed from.

At first he thought it was the standard slayer vs. slayer problem most of the girls were experiencing to some degree. However it quickly became apparent that it was an array of things, jealousy, fear, and hatred.

Liz was close to the Angel Investigations team, they listened if she had some input but they didn't put any more or any less weight on her opinion that he could see. Whereas even though Kennedy was sleeping with Willow, her opinion didn't carry much weight with the group. In fact they tended to brush off what she said because they only saw her as Willow's lover and not an essential part of the group.

The fear came in when Liz had that electrical charge come from her open wound a week ago. It meant that Liz wouldn't be a normal potential. That unknown factor put fear in the other potentials, Kennedy included, although she didn't want to admit it. They didn't know what that otherworldliness would do to them or their situation.

And the hatred probably came from people taking Liz's side in matters. Like the issue last night, Kennedy, although she had Slayer healing, was still bruised and swollen. It would take nearly a full day for her injuries to heal completely. Spike and Liz really pummeled her and no one, not even Willow, which surprised him, took her side. They all reprimanded her or told her if she did it again she was out of the hotel.

Now Giles leaned against the front desk in the lobby, with his tea warming his palm, and still he watched. Everyone was gathered in the large front room for the meeting Giles called, talking amongst themselves. It was time to put into motion his plan for weeding out everyone but the real slayer.

He spoke to Buffy, Angel, and Wesley already about the help he would need administering the slayer tests. All three were on board, though it was clear to him that they weren't overjoyed in having to spend more time than usual with the temporary slayers. Giles had tried to get Spike in on the training as well, since he had been before in Sunnydale but Spike refused and told him he'd help Liz but the others could 'stuff it'.

RosBtVSRosBTVSRosBTVSRosBTVS 

Liz glanced at her watch, discreetly so as not to offend Giles. They had been waiting for nearly fifteen minutes when would this sucker start. She quietly thought.

To distract herself Liz began to play with her and Spike's entwined fingers. Spike turned to face her and smiled. She'd seen a lot of those non-smirk smiles on him lately. She loved them, especially being on the receiving end of them.

Last night their relationship had taken another step. Not all the steps, they hadn't had sex together yet, much to her chagrin, she had been ready and wanting but Spike didn't want to rush. Thankfully there had been more intimate touches passed between them last night though. The very fingers she played with now, played her expertly last night and she had been delightfully pleasured and very grateful to a pleased and cocky Spike. A slight pink blush blossomed over her cheeks as she remembered how she thanked him for making her feel so wonderfully cherished.

Spike brought her closer to him, lifting her legs over his and leaned into the side of her neck. "You're blushing." He rumbled quietly.

"Care to take a guess why?" She whispered back.

Spike lowly laughed. "Oh, I know why pet. I look forward to a repeat of both later today."

Her blush deepened and she kissed his lips quickly. "So do I."

"All right." Giles called out to the room, gaining everyone's attention.

Finally, Liz sighed as the conversations around them dwindled. Looked like the meeting would be starting. Hopefully it would be quick so she and Spike could go back up to her room.

"Thank you." Giles said. "Ok, I realize we haven't been given a whole lot of time to process everything that occurred in Sunnydale but unfortunately it's not an option, besides when have we ever gotten a well needed break." He joked lightly.

There was silence, no one really finding Giles's attempt at humor all that funny, when Xander popped up with. "Oh come on people there has to be a time when we had a break?"

"Not many are springing to mind Xan." Buffy shook her head. She could only remember one break she had and that was when she died. It's the kind of break she wouldn't recommend, most people didn't come back from that.

"Which is why it should be obvious. So few they should stand out." Xander pointed out.

"Besides when you, Willow, and Giles were here during my first summer away and me when I died, there weren't many."

"Didn't you get a break when you were gone that summer too?" Willow asked, curious as to Buffy's answer since they never really talked in depth about when she went to LA to stay with her Dad.

Buffy shrugged. "It wasn't completely a monster party but I also didn't have a quiet summer. Vamps, a demon here and there, the normal for me."

"Hmm, I never knew that."

"Anyway, if I could interject please?" Giles intervened, though he hated to break up the three friend's first tentative conversation since Buffy left Sunnydale and kicked out of her mother's home a week ago.

Willow and Buffy shared an amused glance and then turned their attention back to him.

"As I was starting to say, we now have another important matter to deal with. It is clear from the incident last night in the basement that we need to start immediately with testing who the next real Slayer will be. Right now with so many girls imbued with the Slayer powers it causes an obvious problem. Since there is only supposed to be one all of your instincts are telling you to take out the others. You all think you're the one, however once we start administering the tests it'll become clear who is really the next Slayer."

Liz raised her hand like she was in a classroom setting. Spike smirked at her, amused that he's mated to a teacher's pet. All sorts of interesting scenarios that he wanted to play with Liz in private came to mind.

Giles nodded to her and Liz asked. "With these tests it'll show who the next Slayer is but what will make the others who aren't the Slayers stop trying to being the alpha dog? I can't see that instinct going away with the tests."

"Once it's established the instinct will minimize, right now the next Slayer is unknown so the Slayer essence inside all of you is clawing to establish dominance over the others. When there is a clear leader that urge will dissipate. You are correct however that the instinct will still be there and will be until the spell has worn off." Giles told them.

Great, Liz mentally sighed. So these tests wouldn't make the Slayer inside her shut up completely. At the moment, with all the temporary Slayers present, she wanted to fight them all. Even Buffy, despite knowing that she had been the Slayer long before she knew about vampires and demons.

"When are we starting the tests?" A temporary Slayer named Melissa asked.

"Today promptly at ten-thirty in the morning." Giles stated.

"What will the tests consist of?" Kennedy's words a little muddled from her swollen jaw.

Giles put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the front desk. "Various tests involving mental processes, instinct, extra sensory perception, physical strength, prowess, and of course Slayer dreams. That is all I will tell you, it is important these tests be as unknown as possible. Just know that we will test everything and it will take a few days to go through these tests."

With that he ended the meeting and told everyone that they had an hour to prepare and do what they pleased. Many girls, Liz included, looked a bit dazed at what was to come. It would be an interesting few days for them all.

TBC

Coming Up: Giles talks to Kennedy and stage 1 of the tests start.


	33. Chapter 32

Note: First off, thank you everyone for you feedback and concern with the car accident. Thankfully besides minor aches and pains the only damages were to the cars. The others people's insurance company has sided with me and they paid for the damages to my car. And the car was fixed within 2 weeks of the accident and everything is back to the way it was.

I meant to update this fic and a bunch of others this weekend but I was dead tired from work, love having a job, love who I work with and for but it's a physically demanding job and after an eight hour day I just want to collapse and did these last few days. Anyway, here is the next chapter. The tests will be split up between 2 or 3 chapters. Here is the first round of tests. I hope you enjoy it.

**Chapter 32**

As the temporary slayers went to prepare or relax before their round of tests, Giles stopped Kennedy from leaving the room. "One moment please Kennedy."

Willow stayed with Kennedy. "What is it Giles?"

"Actually I'd like to speak with Kennedy alone if you don't mind Willow." Giles firmly stated.

Willow shook her head negatively. "No, if you have something to say, I can be here too." She left her arms at her sides but by her stance she was defensive and unwilling to give Giles and her girlfriend a private word.

If Willow thought that her presence would deter him, she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. "Fine. What happened in the basement last night is never to happen again."

"Is that what this is about? She's already been talked to and I was one of the talkers." She didn't understand why everyone was making such a huge deal of this. Yes, Kennedy was wrong but that was no reason to continuing harping on it.

"This is a serious matter Willow. It can't just be brushed aside. Kennedy could have seriously hurt that young lady and more importantly, her baby. She had no business interfering in any way with a training session that she had only just seen the last chunk of." Giles turned to a swollen faced and only slightly arrogant Kennedy. "What you did was reckless, irresponsible, stupid, dangerous, and not the actions of a true slayer."

"I will be the next slayer and you just said that the instincts of the slayer want to fight everyone else around them. Now you're criticizing me for it?" Kennedy put her hands on her hips.

"I highly doubt you are the next slayer. Have you seen Buffy beat up on any of you since you all got slayer powers? No you haven't little girl because even though Buffy has the instincts she has the ability to keep them in check and not pick a fight with everyone she doesn't like. If that were the case you'd surely be beaten up with more frequency because we all know Buffy would rather have a ferret at her side than you."

"Giles that's uncalled for. Kennedy is sorry, she messed up but that's no reason to get down on her like this." Willow argued.

"Stay out of this Willow. You are not a slayer, never will be one, there are rules to be a slayer, rules you clearly don't understand so keep you comments to yourself." Giles coldly told the girl turned woman turned friend. "As for Kennedy being sorry, she hasn't apologized to Liz or Spike and even if she did I wouldn't believe it."

"I…"

Kennedy didn't even get a chance to say anything else because Giles turned his steely gaze back onto her and spoke in a tone that wasn't to be argued with. "Quiet. You get one more shot here Kennedy. If you cause problems you're out, no arguing, no trial, five minutes to pack whatever you can grab, and on your way with no slayer powers. I'm sure these tests will prove you're not the next slayer, but God help this world if you are."

"Giles, if Kennedy is kicked out, then I go too." Willow threatened. There was no way Giles would want her to go.

"Then, because of our shared history, you'll get ten minutes to pack." With that Giles left the two young women standing alone in the lobby.

_Hyperion Hotel; 10:30 a.m._

At exactly ten thirty sharp, everyone, a completely chastised Kennedy included, were back in the lobby. Liz stood with the other temporary slayers and was dressed in a form fitting, but not tight, work out outfit. The clingy pale yellow tank top highlighted her pregnant belly, her khaki colored cotton/spandex pants clung to her thighs and were a little baggier at her calves and ankles, and with her white tennis shoes and hair pulled up in a pony tail she was ready for what the test would throw at her.

Around her the other girls were dressed in a variety of different work out clothing and some of the girls wore their normal everyday clothes. Buffy, Angel, Giles, and Wesley were dressed similarly to most of the others, comfortable clothes that were easy to maneuver in. Spike of course was in his typical black shirt, black jeans and black boots. The only thing missing was his leather jacket which was on Liz's bed.

Buffy walked forward from her spot. "The first test is part one of your physical strength test." Off to the side were steel beams in various sizes. "The task is straight forward." She walked over to the metal, picked up one of the medium size beams and bent it down the middle. "Bend two beams. One small, one medium. Ignore the large beams for now, they will be used later."

Giles stood back and watched Buffy explain the task. This test, as with most, was two fold, the obvious was to bend the beams, however the second was how well one followed directions. While important to listen to instinct, it was also important to know when to follow orders.

The girls all grabbed the appropriate sized beams. Many bent the small beam easily. One of the girls was clearly straining.

Billie bent the small beam but it was a challenge. She tried the medium beam next but only managed to bend it a couple inches.

The spell was already beginning to wear off, Giles noted. Wesley wrote down each other young ladies progress and how well they completed the task.

Liz set aside her two bent beams. It had been remarkably easy to shape the steel, she kept her surprise hidden. While she knew logically that she'd be stronger she hadn't realized how strong she would be during this spell. It was incredible but she'd be happy when it wore off and she'd be a normal girl, with a dash of alien powers thrown in.

Her gaze drifted toward the other girls. Most didn't have problems with the beams, Kennedy included. There was a small part of her…okay maybe more like a large part, which wished Kennedy had been the ones that had issues with strength. Liz didn't want to be the Slayer but she also didn't want her rival to be one either.

Ten minutes later once everyone was done and the four instructors talked about their findings, Giles turned and addressed the group. "Next test will involve reflexes. Normally, as Buffy well knows from her first watcher, we'd throw a knife to show the Slayer that she is in fact different, however since we don't want to permanently injure any of you we will use these tennis balls instead that I will throw at you, using some magical help. Let us go outside, Spike and Angel will be outside as well but staying in the shade."

The group filed outside, Giles instructed them to wait at the edge of the property where the wall around the hotel stood. As they moved to where they were told Giles stood on the other side where candles were burning and began chanting quietly. Once the Potentials were all at the wall Wesley addressed them.

"All right. We will begin by calling you up one at a time. There will be a series of tennis balls thrown in your direction. Your task in this challenge is to deflect the tennis balls. You can use anything you can think of, anything in your skill set, just deflect or avoid the balls."

Wesley didn't bother to tell them that tennis balls would be sent at them from many different angles. There had to be some surprises in store for them.

"First up, Shantelle." The girl, fourteen years old, came up to where Wesley indicated. Her twin Sharyl rubbed her hands together, nervous for her sister. Without warning tennis balls came flying through the air toward Shantelle, some one at a time, others came in groups of two or three.

Buffy stood on the side watching closely. "What is so wrong with Watchers giving a little warning?" Remembering the time the Watcher's Council came to Sunnydale and were testing, more like irritating, her when Glory had become an increasing problem.

The girls went one by one. All had except one, Kokumo, a sixteen year old Potential, made mistakes, some were minor, others large. Wesley made notes next to each other girl's names on what they needed more training on.

Kennedy was up next. She was confident in her abilities, perhaps a bit too confident. Fuzzy yellow tennis balls began hurtling toward her and she deflected them with relative ease. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two coming at her, wanting to do something cool and different from the others she did a spinning kick but it didn't turn out as she planned.

Instead of cleanly knocking the balls away one zoomed under her lifted leg, pass her body, swung around and connected with her back. The other was only grazed by Kennedy's calf but the graze was enough and it fell useless to the floor.

"I thought these things were supposed to move in a straight line?" She grumbled.

"Enemies rarely move in a straight line Kennedy. You have to be prepared for anything. Especially combatants who can duck and weave under a spinning kick." Buffy stated flatly.

Frustrated that she didn't get a perfect score she took her place with the others. With her arms crossed she watched as two more potential slayers took their turn. She stood up a little straighter when Liz was up. This would be amusing. She'd definitely do worse than she did. Liz was pregnant and not nearly as disciplined as she was.

Although it was debated previously with him, Angel, Buffy, Wesley, and Spike, that the tests should be a little different for Liz, in the end it was decided that Liz would have to do the same tests as everyone else. It wouldn't be far to them or Liz if they took it easy on her, the monsters wouldn't, so they couldn't.

Spike didn't like Liz being put in danger. He argued that some of the tests, this one included, could hurt the baby. Giles tried to reassure him and tell him that he would make sure none of the tennis balls hit hard or hit her stomach, but they had to see how well Liz preformed, even through her pregnancy.

Liz stood and waited with nervous anticipation. She wondered how she would do; she hoped she wouldn't do badly, especially in front of everyone. It would be a huge humiliation to fall flat on her face.

As with the others Liz didn't get any warning that the "threat" was coming. It was a miracle that from behind her she heard a fast whiz getting closer and crouched down. The flying tennis ball zoomed over her head and back toward Giles who sent it off again.

Another ball, this time one she saw, came at her from the side, she batted that one away. Next two tennis balls came at her, one from either side. She saw one and dodged out of its way but missed the other one which hit the back of her leg gently. That's ok, Liz thought, it's just one. Determined to do at least better than Kennedy.

Keeping loose Liz felt, more than saw something coming from above her. Lifting her gaze to the sky she saw two tennis balls hurtling toward her head. Liz quickly went over her options. Only one stood out as the best. With a flick of her hand green lightning shot from her fingers and fried the now blackened projectiles. Liz stepped out of the way and they fell to the ground exploding into ash from the impact.

Silence from the potentials showed their shock at her actions. While Spike smiled and came over to her. "That's my girl, showin' them something new." He kissed her quickly.

"That's cheating!" Kennedy argued. This could not be happening.

Spike growled and Liz rolled her eyes. Did the girl not hear the rules or did she just not care? Spike started to advance on Kennedy but Liz held his hand keeping him next to her. "It's ok." She whispered to him, calming him.

"No, she used whatever was in her set of skills. If you could do something, like what Giles did for example and magically force the tennis balls away from you that would be fine to demonstrate. Liz took a previous experience of missing one of the projectiles and used an ability she had that would take care of both. It wasn't cheating Kennedy." Wesley argued back.

When no one stood up for Kennedy, not even Willow, she angrily leaned back against the perimeter wall with her arms crossed.

"Excellent work everyone." Giles quickly changed the subject, not wanting to have more arguments. "Why don't you all take a twenty minute break while we set up the next bunch of tests?" With that Buffy, Angel, Giles, and Wesley went to set everything up.

TBC


	34. Chapter 33

Note: Here is Ch 33. The Slayer dream portion took a little longer and a couple pages more to write than I thought it would so the hand to hand combat section will have to wait till next chapter.

**Chapter 33**

_11:30 a.m._

"I can't stand her." Liz stormed into her room with Spike hot on her trail.

"You and almost every other person who ever met her. Except Red, for some reason the witch is charmed by her."

"Would it be terrible if I accidently on purpose fried her with my alien powers?" Liz bashfully asked.

Spike shrugged and smiled. "Wouldn't hear any complaints from me. I'll help you hide the body." He offered.

Liz grinned and pulled him down to sit with her on the bed. Once he sat she snuggled into his chest and sighed contently. "Have you ever heard that saying 'A good friend helps you move but a true friend helps you hide the body'?" She rested her chin on his strong shoulder.

"Course luv. Who do you think came up with it?" He whispered in a sexy rumble.

"You did not." Her eyes lit up with amusement.

"How do you know?" Spike challenged, he never lost his smirk as he fell flat on the bed and brought Liz to lie on top of him, because of her stomach she had to straddle him to keep the weight off the baby.

"How about 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'? Did you invent that one too?" She laughed warmly.

Spike shook his head. "No, a lot before my time pet. I was turned in 1880 AD and that saying has origins back in 1700's BC."

Liz trailed her fingertips up and down Spike's forearms that rested on her outer thighs. "Your brain is so sexy." She kissed him.

"Of course it is. Everything about me is sexy."

"That's another thing I like about you. Your modesty?" Liz leaned down; draping her body over Spike's and gave him a slow loving kiss. She pulled back enough to glance at the digital clock on her dresser. "We have ten more minutes to kill."

"Can't let a second go to waste." Spike whispered picking up their passionate lip lock where they left off.

_Hyperion Lobby; Ten Minutes Later_

Before they got started Giles took a head count. "Good, everyone's here." He nodded to Wesley.

"Our next test is meditation to get a Slayer dream or vision. All Slayers can do it to some degree. Most of you already had a couple when you became Potentials. All can get a Slayer dream as they sleep. Many can get a vision while in a trance, there are a few select Slayers who work at it and can get them while awake but that typically takes years of practice." Wesley began lighting incense and candles around the room.

Buffy took over where Wesley left off. "If each of you will pick a mat or blanket on the floor and lay down. The incense and candles will help with relaxation, while the spell Willow recites will put you all in a sleeping state. It won't hurt anybody and won't do anything unnatural, it's just to speed up a normal sleeping process." She explained.

Spike shook his head. "You sure about that Slayer? Red's not exactly Miss Reliable when it comes to magic spells. Remember the spell that made us all forget who the hell we were? We all nearly got killed. Not to mention a few other magical screw ups over the years." He didn't want Liz to get hurt with a spell gone awry.

"Hey." Willow exclaimed.

"This is a spell she can't screw up." Giles reassured everyone.

"Hello? Standing right here. Hearing distance here. I don't screw up every spell. Most of my spells are successful." Willow defended her spell casting prowess.

"And some aren't. When you mess up, you mess up big." Spike argued back.

"Ok that's enough." Although Willow and Spike were a room apart he positioned his body half way between them. "I understand your concern Spike." With Liz being Spike's mate it made him hyperaware of any threat, no matter how small. "But Willow is a gifted witch and even if she wasn't this is a spell no one could mess up."

Willow opened the book to the spell. "Thank you…I think."

A few minutes later everyone was seated on the floor on a mat or folded up blanket. "All right, lay back everyone."

Liz sank into the fluffy blanket, her knees bent and her feet flat on the floor. She's had a few Slayer dreams since coming to LA, they weren't pleasant and she wasn't looking forward to getting more visions of blood, killings, and other evil acts.

"Let the sleeping begin." Willow stated in a calm voice. Instantly all the girls laying on the floor fell asleep.

"Now we wait." Giles leaned against the front desk slowly moving his gaze over each of the girls. It shouldn't be long before they got the visions.

Spike kept his eyes on Liz's sleeping form. Any sign of distress and Red gets her neck snapped.

A few moments later some of the girls began to slowly move their heads, their eyelids bulging and moving in a rapid succession. They were having a Slayer vision.

As more and more girls started doing similar movements, Liz was remaining surprisingly still. "Watcher do I have to kill someone?"

"What?" Giles asked in alarm then took note of Liz's stillness. "No." But to be safe he went over and checked her pulse. "Strong, beating faster than normal as a matter of fact."

"Refer to my previous question." Spike seethed.

Giles raised a hand, gesturing to keep calm. "It doesn't mean she's in danger…"

"It just means that I'm having an out of body experience." Liz's voice came from behind Spike.

Her bleached blonde mate whirled around and faced her slightly transparent and standing form. He then bounced his gaze between her two forms. "How did you do that?"

"No idea, I have a guess but nothing concrete. Do Slayer dreams usually work like this?" She questioned a stunned Giles.

"No, they don't. Are you seeing anything besides us right now?" He stood up and asked Liz's astral form.

"Yes. It's weird."

"What are you seeing?" Wesley asked.

Liz glanced around, not really looking at anyone but clearly focusing on something. "Off to the right of me there's a bell hop. With a red hat, chewing gum, he looks shifty. I think it's sometime in the past."

"Why?" Angel asked, curious about what Liz saw. The bellhop she mentioned sounded like the guy who worked there in the fifties.

"The uniform looks like an older version, plus the phone he's using isn't modern." She explained. Off to her left a super fast figure of darkness zoomed past her, she twisted around, following it with her eyes. The others in the room faded, the hotel melted away until she stood alone in a cemetery.

BtVSAngelRoswellBtVSAngelRoswell

"Where did she go?" Spike demanded.

Giles shook his head. "I don't know. This is new territory. Slayers typically can't astral project. This must be a side effect of whatever else she is."

"Where did she go?" Spike asked again through clenched teeth. He didn't give a damn about what was normal for Slayers, his mate, his girl had been there and now she wasn't. Spike bent down to her prone body, her heart was beating in a steady rhythm, easing some of his worry.

"Maybe she was called back to her physical body?" Willow suggested.

Spike immediately disagreed. "No, she saw something then disappeared."

"If she doesn't come out of it in ten minutes we'll get Willow to do a spell and follow her essence. Deal?"

Spike stared at the eldest Watcher for a second. "Fine." He didn't need to voice the threat that was behind his single word. The others knew that if anything happened to Liz he'd go on a killing spree, starting with everyone in this room.

BtVSAngelRoswellBtVSAngelRoswell

The moon above was full, casting a white muted light over the cemetery.

Where the hell was she? Liz scanned the surrounding area, nothing jumped out to attack her and nothing moved in the distance. Where had the dark figure disappeared too?

Coming out from the shadows the figure appeared. She couldn't make out any features or characteristics. It was a solid black blob.

From behind her thundering footsteps lumbered up. Liz turned, the Beast as Rock Boy was now called, the one that attacked them a few weeks ago but hasn't been seen since, made its way toward her. Although he had looked at her Liz ran with a little jump in her step and ducked behind a nearby tombstone.

Liz had no idea if astral projection kept her invisible, Spike and the others saw her just fine, or if the Beast didn't view her as a threat because he wasn't coming toward her aggressively. Then again, he's a huge monster with a rock for a body and scary looking horns; even if he danced an Irish jig with a party hat on both of his horns he'd still look menacing and aggressive.

The shadow didn't even seem to notice her. Was she still an astral projection? Too many questions and not enough time or information to answer them.

Liz poked her head out when the thundering footsteps stopped. The Beast stood straight; his large feet crushed the grass and pushed dirt up and around the sharp jagged rocks of his feet. The shadow was a couple feet from the Beast, its arms swept out and it began to speak.

"Where have you been?" The voice was unrecognizable. The shadows voice wasn't feminine or masculine, it wasn't too deep, wasn't too high, and it sounded like she was hearing it through a pane of glass.

"Recovering." The deep voice of the Beast…did they really have to call it the Beast, Rock Boy was so much more appropriate, sent shivers of fear down her spine.

"I want the Slayer and her gang of Potentials destroyed. Do what I command and do it fast!" The shadow shouted.

"Yes master." The Beast stomped off and the cemetery faded to nothing.

Liz felt a pull in her stomach; she was drawn back to her body at lightning speed. Snapping her eyes open she saw Spike's face above her, her head rested in his lap, and some of the others were staring at her. Liz took in the hotel lobby, some Potentials were still passed out, some others were up and walking around and absolutely no people in less modern clothing.

"What did you see love?" Spike gently prodded while stroking fingers down her temple.

"Trouble."

TBC


End file.
